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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d88075b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #51728 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51728) diff --git a/old/51728-0.txt b/old/51728-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 817a115..0000000 --- a/old/51728-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6699 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Constantinople, Vol. I (of 2), by Edmondo de Amicis - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Constantinople, Vol. I (of 2) - -Author: Edmondo de Amicis - -Translator: Maria Hornor Lansdale - -Release Date: April 10, 2016 [EBook #51728] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSTANTINOPLE, VOL. I (OF 2) *** - - - - -Produced by Josep Cols Canals, Charlie Howard, and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(This file was produced from images generously made -available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - -[Illustration: The Mihrab of the Mosque of Roustem Pasha, Showing -Persian Tiles.] - - - - - CONSTANTINOPLE. - - BY - EDMONDO DE AMICIS, - AUTHOR OF “HOLLAND,” “SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS,” ETC. - - - TRANSLATED FROM THE FIFTEENTH ITALIAN EDITION BY - MARIA HORNOR LANSDALE. - - - ILLUSTRATED. - - - IN TWO VOLUMES. - - VOL. I. - - - PHILADELPHIA: - HENRY T. COATES & CO. - 1896. - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY - HENRY T. COATES & CO. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - THE ARRIVAL 7 - - FIVE HOURS LATER 33 - - THE BRIDGE 43 - - STAMBUL 59 - - ALONG THE GOLDEN HORN 85 - - THE GREAT BAZÂR 121 - - LIFE IN CONSTANTINOPLE 159 - - ST. SOPHIA 247 - - DOLMABÂGHCHEH 279 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - -VOLUME I. - -Photogravures by W. H. GILBO. - - PAGE - - THE MIHRAB OF THE MOSQUE OF ROUSTEM PASHA, SHOWING PERSIAN TILES - _Frontispiece._ - - MOSQUES OF SULTAN AHMED AND ST. SOPHIA 21 - - VIEW OF PERA AND GALATA 29 - - ANCIENT FOUNTAIN 39 - - BRIDGE OF GALATA 45 - - FOUNTAIN OF COURT OF THE MOSQUE OF AHMED 65 - - BURNT COLUMN OF CONSTANTINE 70 - - TOWER OF GALATA 90 - - PANORAMA OF THE ARSENAL AND GOLDEN HORN 105 - - DATE-SELLER 131 - - VIEW OF STAMBUL, MOSQUE OF VALIDÊH, AND BRIDGE 161 - - SERPENTINE COLUMN OF DELPHI 167 - - GROUP OF DOGS 179 - - TYPES OF TURKISH SOLDIERS 189 - - A TURKISH OFFICIAL 200 - - TÜRBEH OF SULTAN SELIM II. IN ST. SOPHIA 216 - - INTERIOR OF MOSQUE OF AHMED 227 - - ENTRANCE AND TOWER OF SERASKER 243 - - ENTRANCE TO ST. SOPHIA 249 - - FOUNTAIN OF AHMED 251 - - MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA 255 - - INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA 260 - - FIRST COLUMNS ERECTED IN ST. SOPHIA 263 - - PALACE OF DOLMABÂGHCHEH 281 - - PALACE OF THE SULTAN ON THE BOSPHORUS 296 - - - - -THE ARRIVAL. - - -The arrival at Constantinople made such an overpowering impression -upon me as to almost efface what I had seen during the previous ten -days’ trip from the Straits of Messina to the mouth of the Bosphorus. -The Ionian Sea, blue and unruffled as a lake; the distant mountains -of Morea, tinged with rose color in the early morning light; the -archipelago, gilded with the rays of the setting sun; the ruins of -Athens; the Gulf of Salonika, Lemnos, Tenedos, the Dardanelles, and -a crowd of persons and events which had caused me infinite amusement -during the voyage,--faded into such indistinct and shadowy outlines -at the first sight of the Golden Horn that were I now to undertake a -description of them it would be an effort rather of imagination than -of memory; and so, in order to impart something of life and warmth to -the opening pages of my book, I shall omit all preliminaries and begin -with the last evening of the voyage at the precise moment when, in the -middle of the Sea of Marmora, the captain came up to my friend Yunk -and me, and, laying his two hands on our shoulders, said, in his pure -Palerman accent, “Gentlemen, to-morrow at daybreak we shall see the -first minarets of Stambul.” - -Ah! you smile, my good reader, you who have plenty of money and are -tired of spending it--who, when a year or so ago the fancy seized you -to go to Constantinople in twenty-four hours, with your purse well -lined and your trunks packed, set forth as calmly as if it were a trip -to the country, uncertain up to the last moment whether, after all, it -might not pay better to take the train for Baden-Baden instead. If the -captain had said to you, “To-morrow morning we shall see Stambul,” you -would probably have answered, quite calmly, “Indeed? I am very glad to -hear it.” But suppose, instead, you had brooded over the idea for ten -years; had passed many a winter’s evening mournfully studying the map -of the East; had fired your imagination by reading hundreds of books on -the subject; had travelled over one-half of Europe merely to console -yourself for not being able to see the other half; had remained nailed -to your desk for a whole year with this sole object in view; had made -a thousand petty sacrifices and calculations without end; had erected -whole rows of castles in the air, and fought many a stiff battle with -those of your own household; and finally had passed nine sleepless -nights at sea haunted by this intoxicating vision, and so blissfully -happy as to have a twinge of something like remorse at the thought of -all your loved ones left behind;--then you would have some idea of the -real meaning of those words: “To-morrow at daybreak we shall see the -first minarets of Stambul;” and instead of replying phlegmatically, -“I am glad to hear it,” you would have given a great thump on the -bulkhead, as I did. - -One great source of satisfaction to my friend and myself was our -profound conviction that, boundless as our expectations might be, -they could not possibly be foiled. About Constantinople there is no -uncertainty, and the most pessimistic traveller feels that there, -at least, he is safe, since no one has ever been disappointed; -and this, moreover, has nothing to do with the charm of its great -associations or the fashion of admiring what every one else does. It -has a beauty of its own, at once overmastering and triumphant, before -which poets, archeologists, ambassadors, and merchants, the princess -and the sailor, people of the North and of the South, one and all, -break forth into loud exclamations of astonishment. In the opinion of -the whole world it is the most beautiful spot on earth. Writers of -travels on arriving there at once lose their heads. Perthusier falls -to stammering; Tournefort declares that human language is powerless; -Pouqueville thinks himself transported to another world; Gautier cannot -believe that what he sees is real; the Viscount di Marcellus falls -into ecstasies; La Croix is intoxicated; Lamartine returns thanks to -God; and all of them, heaping metaphor upon metaphor, endeavor to -make their style more glowing, and search their imaginations in vain -for some simile that shall not fall miserably short of their ideas. -Chateaubriand alone describes his arrival at Constantinople with such -apparent tranquillity of soul as to strongly suggest the idea of -stupor, but he does not fail to observe that it is the most beautiful -thing in the world; and if the celebrated Lady Montague, in pronouncing -a similar opinion, has allowed herself the use of a _perhaps_, she -clearly wishes it to be tacitly understood that the first place belongs -to her own beauty, of which she had a very high opinion. It is, after -all, a cold German who declares that the most beautiful illusions of -youth, the very dreams of first love, become poor and insipid when -contrasted with the delicious sensations which steal upon the soul at -the first sight of those charmed shores, while a learned Frenchman -affirms that the first impression made by Constantinople is one of -terror. - -Imagine, then, if you can, the effect produced by all these impassioned -statements on the ardent brains of a clever painter of twenty-four and -a bad poet of twenty-eight! But still, not satisfied with even all -this illustrious praise of Constantinople, we turned to the sailors -to see what they would have to say about it; and here it was the -same thing. Ordinary language was felt by even these rough men to be -inadequate, and they rolled their eyes and rubbed their hands together -in the effort to find unusual words and phrases in which to express -themselves, attempting their description in that far-away tone of voice -and with the slow, uncertain gestures used by uneducated persons when -they try to recount something wonderful. “To arrive at Constantinople -on a fine morning,” said the helmsman--“believe me, gentlemen, _that is -a great moment in a man’s life_.” - -The weather, too, smiled upon us. It was a fine, calm night; the water -lapped the sides of the vessel with a gentle murmuring sound, while -the masts and rigging stood out clear and motionless against the sky -sparkling with stars. We seemed hardly to move. In the bow a crowd -of Turks lay stretched out at full length, blissfully smoking their -hookahs with faces turned to the moon, whose light, falling upon their -white turbans, made them look like silvery haloes; on the promenade -deck was a concourse of people of every nationality under the sun, -among them a company of hungry-looking Greek comedians who had embarked -at Piræus. - -I can see before me now the pretty face of little Olga, one of a -bevy of Russian children going with their mother to Odessa, very -much astonished at my not understanding her language, and somewhat -displeased at having addressed the same question to me three -consecutive times without obtaining an intelligible answer. Here on -one side a fat, dirty Greek priest, wearing a hat like an inverted -bushel-measure, is looking through his glass for the Sea of Marmora, -and on the other, an English evangelical clergyman is standing stiff -and unyielding as a statue, who for three days past has not spoken to -a soul nor looked at any one; near by are two pretty Athenian girls in -their little red caps, with hair hanging down over their shoulders, who -turn simultaneously toward the water whenever they find any one looking -at them, in order to show their profiles, while a little farther off -an Armenian merchant is telling the beads of his Greek rosary. Near -him is a group of Hebrews, dressed in their antique costume, some -Arabians in long white gowns, a melancholy-minded French governess, and -a few of those nondescript personages one always meets in travelling, -about whom there is nothing particular to indicate their country or -occupation; and in the centre of all this mixed company a little -Turkish family, consisting of a father wearing a fez, a veiled mother, -and two little girls in trousers, all four curled up under a tent on a -pile of many-colored pillows and cushions, and surrounded by a motley -collection of luggage of every shape and hue. - -How one realized the vicinity of Constantinople! On all sides there was -an unwonted gayety, and the faces lit up by the ship’s lights were all -happy ones. The group of children skipped around their mother shouting -the ancient Russian name of Stambul: “Zavegorod! Zavegorod!” Passing -near one and another of the little groups, I caught the names of -Galata, Pera, Skutari, Bujukdere, Terapia, which acted upon my excited -brain like stray sparks from the preliminaries of some grand display of -fireworks. Even the sailors were delighted to be nearing a place where, -as they said, one forgets, if only for a single hour, all the troubles -of life. Among the white turbans in the bow as well there were unusual -signs of life: the imaginations of even those sluggish and impassive -Mussulmen were stirred as there began to float before their minds the -magic outlines of _Ummelunia_, “Mother of the World”--that city, as -says the Koran, “which commands on one side the earth, and on two, -the sea.” It seemed as though, had the engine been stopped, the ship -must still have gone on, impelled forward by the sheer force of that -impatient longing which throbbed and palpitated from her decks. From -time to time, as I leaned over the side and looked down at the water, -a hundred different voices seemed to mingle with the murmur of the -waves--the voices of all those who cared for me. “Go,” they said, “son, -brother, friend! Go and enjoy your Constantinople. You have well earned -it; now enjoy yourself, and God be with you!” - -It was midnight before the passengers began to disperse, my friend and -I being the last to go, and then with lingering steps. We could not -bear to shut up between four walls an exuberance of joy as compared -with which the Circle of Propontis seemed narrow and contracted. -Halfway down the stair we heard the captain’s voice inviting us to -come on the bridge the next morning. “Be up before sunrise,” he cried, -appearing at the top of the companion-way; “whoever is late will be -thrown overboard.” - -A more superfluous threat was never made since the world began. I did -not close my eyes, and I don’t believe that the youthful Muhammad II. -on that famous night of Adrianople when he tore his bed to pieces, -agitated by visions of Constantine’s city, tossed and turned more than -did I throughout those four hours of expectation. In order to quiet my -nerves I tried counting up to a thousand, keeping my eyes fixed on the -line of white spray thrown up against my port by the movement of the -vessel, humming monotonous tunes set to the throbbing of the engine, -but all in vain. I was hot and feverish, my breath was labored, and the -night seemed endless. At the first glimmer of dawn I leaped out of bed, -to find Yunk already up; we tore into our clothes, and in three bounds -were on deck. - -Despair! It was foggy. - -A thick, impenetrable mist concealed the horizon on every side, -and it looked like rain; so the great spectacle of the approach to -Constantinople was lost, all our hopes dashed, the voyage, in short, a -failure. I was completely stunned. - -At this moment the captain appeared, wearing his accustomed cheerful -smile. Explanations were unnecessary. The instant his eye fell on -us he took in the situation, and, patting me on the shoulder, said, -consolingly, “That will be all right; don’t give yourselves the -slightest concern. This fog, for which you ought to be very thankful, -will help us to make the most glorious entrance into Constantinople one -could possibly desire. In two hours, you may take my word for it, the -sky will be absolutely clear.” At these brave words my blood began to -circulate freely again, and we followed him to the bridge. - -The Turks were already assembled in the bow, seated cross-legged upon -strips of carpet, with their faces turned toward Constantinople. -Presently the other passengers began to appear, armed with glasses of -all sizes and styles, and took their places, one after another, along -the port rail of the vessel, like people in the gallery of a theatre -waiting for the curtain to rise. A fresh breeze was blowing; no one -spoke, but gradually every glass was levelled upon the northern shore -of the Sea of Marmora, where, as yet, nothing could be seen. - -The fog, however, had lifted so rapidly that it was now little more -than a filmy veil hanging over the horizon, while above it the heavens -shone out clear and resplendent. Directly ahead of us could be seen -indistinctly the little archipelago of the three Isles of the Princes, -the _Demonesi_ of the ancients, and the favorite pleasure-grounds of -the court in the time of the Byzantine Empire, now a popular resort and -place of amusement for the people of Constantinople. - -Both shores of the Sea of Marmora were still completely hidden. - -It was not until an hour had gone by that at last there appeared---- - -But there is no use in attempting to understand a description of the -approach to Constantinople without first having a clear idea of the -plan of the city. Supposing the reader to stand facing the mouth of the -Bosphorus, that arm of the sea which separates Asia from Europe and -connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmora, he will have on his -right the continent of Asia, on his left, Europe; here ancient Thrace, -there ancient Anatolia. Following this arm, he will find on his left, -immediately beyond its mouth, a gulf, or rather an extremely narrow -bay, forming with the Bosphorus almost a right angle, and stretching -for some miles into the continent of Europe, in the shape of an ox’s -horn; hence the name Golden Horn, or Horn of Abundance, because, when -the capital of Byzantium was here, the wealth of three continents -flowed through it. On that point of land, bathed on the one hand by -the Sea of Marmora and by the Golden Horn on the other, on the site -of ancient Byzantium, rises, on its seven hills, Stambul, the Turkish -city; across from it, on the other point, washed by the waters of -the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, lie Galata and Pera, the Frankish -cities; while on the Asiatic shore, directly opposite the opening -of the Golden Horn, Skutari rises from the sea. Thus what is called -Constantinople is, in reality, three large cities separated by the -sea--two lying opposite each other, and the third facing them both, -and all so near together that from each of the three it is possible to -distinguish the buildings of the other two nearly as distinctly as one -can see across the widest parts of the Thames or the Seine. The point -of the triangle occupied by Stambul, which curves back toward the Horn, -is the celebrated Cape Seraglio, which conceals up to the very last -moment, from any one approaching from the Sea of Marmora, the two banks -of the Golden Horn; that is to say, the largest and most beautiful part -of Constantinople. - -It was the captain at last, with his trained sailor’s eye, who -discovered the first shadowy outline of Stambul. - -The two Athenian ladies, the Russian family, the English clergyman, -Yunk, I, and a number of others, all of whom were going to -Constantinople for the first time, had gathered around him in a group, -silent, absorbed, every eye intent on trying to pierce through the fog, -when, suddenly throwing his left arm out toward the European shore, he -exclaimed, “Ladies and gentlemen, I see the first building!” - -It was a white peak, the summit of some very high minaret whose base -remained as yet completely hidden. Immediately every glass was levelled -at it, and every eye began to burrow in that little rent in the haze -as though trying to make it larger. The ship was now steaming rapidly -ahead. In a few minutes an uncertain shape was visible beside the -minaret, then another, then two, then three, then many more, which, -stretching out in an endless line, gradually assumed the appearance of -houses. On the right and ahead of us everything was still concealed by -the fog. That which was now coming into view was the part of Stambul -which extends like the arc of a circle for about three miles, from -Cape Seraglio along the northern shore of the Sea of Marmora to the -Castle of the Seven Towers; but the Seraglio hill was still invisible. -Beyond the houses, one after another, the minarets now flashed into -sight, white, lofty, their peaks touched with rose color by the rising -sun. Below the houses we could begin to distinguish the dark line -of the ancient walls, uneven and tortuous, strengthened at regular -intervals by massive towers, their foundations partially washed by -the sea-waves, and encircling the entire city. Before long fully two -miles of the city lay before us in full view, but, to tell the truth, -the sight fell decidedly short of my expectations. It was just here -that Lamartine asked himself, “Can this be Constantinople?” and cried, -“What a disappointment!” The hills being still hidden, nothing -was to be seen but interminable lines of houses along the shore, and -the city was apparently perfectly flat. “Captain,” I too cried, “is -this Constantinople?” The captain seized me by the arm and pointed -ahead. “O man of little faith!” said he, “look there!” I looked, -and an exclamation of amazement escaped me. A shadowy form, vast, -impalpable, towering heavenward from a lofty eminence, rose before us, -its graceful outlines still partially obscured by a filmy cloud of -vapor, and surrounding it four tall and graceful minarets whose peaks -shone like silver as they caught the first rays of the morning sun. -“St. Sophia!” cried a sailor, and one of the Athenian ladies murmured -in an undertone, “Hagia Sofia!” (Holy Wisdom). The Turks in the bow at -once rose to their feet. And now before and around the great basilica -were discernible through the fog other vast domes and minarets crowded -close together like a forest of gigantic branchless palms. “The mosque -of Sultan Ahmed!” cried the captain, pointing; “the Bayezid mosque, the -mosque of Osman, the Laleli mosque, the Suleimaniyeh!” - -[Illustration: Mosques of Sultan Ahmed and St. Sophia.] - -But no one was listening. The mist was now rapidly melting away, and -in every direction there leaped into view mosques, towers, masses of -green, tier above tier of houses. The farther we advanced, the more the -city unfolded before us her charming outlines, irregular, picturesque, -sparkling, and tinged with every hue of the rainbow, while the -Seraglio hill now emerged completely from the fog and stood out clear -and distinct against the gray mass of cloud behind it. Four miles of -city, all that part of Stambul which overlooks the Sea of Marmora, -lay stretched out before us, her black walls and many-colored houses -reflected in the limpid water as in a mirror. - -Suddenly the vessel came to a standstill. Every one crowded around the -captain to know what had happened. He explained that we would have to -wait, before proceeding any farther, until the fog had lifted a little -more. And indeed the mouth of the Bosphorus was still completely hidden -behind a thick veil of mist. In less than a minute, however, this had -begun to disperse, and we were able to move forward, howbeit with -caution. - -We were now approaching the hill of the Old Seraglio, and here the -general excitement and curiosity became intense. - -“Turn your back,” said the captain, “and don’t look until we are -directly opposite.” - -I obediently did as I was told, and tried to fix my attention upon a -camp-stool, which seemed to dance before my eyes. - -“Now!” cried the captain, after a few moments, and I spun around. -The boat had again stopped, this time opposite and very close to the -Seraglio. - -It is a large hill, clothed from top to bottom with cypress, -terebinth, fir, and huge plane trees, whose branches, reaching out -across the city-walls, throw their shadow on the water below; and -from the midst of this mass of verdure, separately and in groups, as -though dropped at haphazard, rise in a confused, disorderly mass, the -roofs of kiosks and pavilions crowned with gilded domes and galleries, -charming little buildings of unfamiliar shape, with grated windows and -arabesqued doorways, white, small, half hidden, suggesting a labyrinth -of avenues, courtyards, and recesses--an entire city enclosed in a -wood, shut off from the world, full of mystery and sadness. The sun was -now shining full upon it, but above there still hovered a nebulous veil -of haze. No one was to be seen, not the faintest sound could be heard. -All the passengers stood perfectly motionless, their eyes fixed upon -that hill invested with centuries of associations--glory, pleasure, -love, intrigue, bloodshed; the citadel, palace, and tomb of the great -Ottoman monarchy. For a little while no one moved or spoke. Suddenly -the first mate called out, “Gentlemen, Skutari is in sight!” - -Every one turned toward the Asiatic shore. Skutari, the Golden City, -barely visible to the naked eye, lay scattered over the summits and -sides of her great hills, the morning mist throwing a delicate veil -over her radiant beauty, smiling and fresh as though just called into -being by the touch of a fairy wand. Who can give any idea of that -sight? The language we employ to describe our own cities is altogether -inadequate to depict that extraordinary variety of color and form, -that marvellous mixture of town and country, at once gay and austere, -Oriental and Western, fantastic, graceful, imposing. Imagine a city -composed of thousands of crimson and yellow villas, thousands of -gardens overflowing with verdure, a hundred snow-white mosques rising -in their midst; above it a forest of enormous cypresses, indicating the -site of the largest cemetery of the East; on the outer edge huge white -barracks, groups of houses and cypresses, villages built on the brows -of little hills; beyond them others, again, half hidden in foliage, and -over all, the peaks of minarets and summits of domes, sparkling points -of light, halfway up the side of a mountain which closes in the horizon -as it were with a curtain. A great metropolis scattered throughout -an enormous garden and overhanging a shore here broken by steep -precipices, there shelving gently down in green gradations to charming -little inlets filled with shade and bloom; and below, the blue mirror -of the Bosphorus reflecting all this splendor and beauty. - -As I stood gazing at Skutari my friend touched me on the elbow to -announce the discovery of still another city, and, sure enough, -turning toward the Sea of Marmora, there, on the same Asiatic shore -and a little beyond Skutari, lay a long string of houses, mosques, and -gardens which we had but lately passed in front of, but which, up to -this moment, had been entirely hidden by the fog. With the help of the -glass it was now easy to distinguish cafés, bazârs, European-looking -houses, flights of stairs, the walls of the market-gardens, and -boats scattered along the shore. This was Kadi Keui (Village of the -Judge), erected on the ruins of ancient Chalcedon, the former rival of -Byzantium--that Chalcedon founded six hundred and eighty-four years -before Christ by the Megarians, to whom the Delphic Oracle gave the -surname of The Blind for having selected that rather than the opposite -site, where Stambul is now situated. - -“That makes three cities,” said the captain, checking them off on his -fingers as each moment brought a fresh one into view. - -The ship was still lying stationary between Skutari and the Seraglio -hill, the fog completely concealing everything on the Bosphorus beyond -Skutari, as well as Galata and Pera, which lay directly before us. -Boats began to pass close by--barges, steam-launches, sailboats--but -no one paid any attention to them. Every eye was glued to that gray -curtain which hung over the Frankish city. I trembled with impatience -and anticipation. Yet a few moments and there would be unfolded before -my eyes that marvellous spectacle which none has here been able to -behold unmoved. My hands shook so violently that it was with difficulty -I could hold the glass to my eyes. The captain, worthy man, watched -my excitement with keen delight, and, presently clapping his hands -together, cried, “There it is! there it is!” - -And, true enough, there did at last begin to appear through the mist -first little specks of white, then the vague outlines of a lofty -eminence, then scattered beams of light where some window caught and -reflected the sun’s rays, and finally Galata and Pera stood revealed -before us--a mountain, a myriad of houses, of all colors, heaped one -above another, a lofty city crowned with minarets, domes, and cypress -trees, and towering over all the monumental palaces of the foreign -ambassadors and the great tower of Galata; beneath, the vast arsenal -of Top-Khâneh and a forest of shipping; and still, as the fog lifted, -more and more of the city came into view stretching along the banks of -the Bosphorus; and in bewildering succession there leaped into sight -streets and suburbs extending from the hilltops to the water’s edge, -closely built, interminable, marked here and there with the sparkling -white tips of the mosques--line upon line of buildings, little bays, -palaces built upon the shore, pavilions, kiosks, gardens, groves; and, -dimly outlined through the distant haze, other suburbs still, their -roofs alone distinguishable, all gilded by the sun’s rays--a luxuriance -of color, a profusion of verdure, a succession of vistas, a grandeur, a -grace, a glory sufficient to make any one break forth into transports -of incoherent delight. Every one on board, however, stood speechless, -staring, with mouth and eyes wide open--passengers, seamen, Turks, -Europeans, children. Not a whisper was heard. No one knew in which -direction to look. On one side lay Skutari and Kadi Keui; on the other, -the Seraglio hill; opposite, Galata, Pera, and the Bosphorus. To see -it all one had to keep revolving around in a circle like a teetotum, -and revolve we did, devouring with our eyes first this and then that, -gesticulating, laughing, but speechless with admiration. Heavens above! -what moments in a man’s life! - -But yet the most beautiful and imposing sight of all was to come. We -were still lying stationary off Seraglio Point, and until this has been -rounded you cannot see the Golden Horn or get the most wonderful of all -the views of Constantinople. - -“Now, gentlemen and ladies, pay attention!” cried the captain before -giving the order to proceed. “This is the _critical moment_; in three -minutes we shall be opposite Constantinople.” - -I felt myself grow hot and cold. For a moment all was still. How my -heart beat! How feverishly I waited for that blessed word, “Forward!” - -“Forward!” shouted the captain. The ship began to move. - -On we go! Kings, princes, potentates, ye great ones of the earth! at -that moment I felt nothing but compassion for you. All your wealth and -power seemed but little in comparison with my place on that boat, and -an empire a poor thing to offer in exchange for one look. - -A minute passes, then another. We are gliding by Seraglio Point, and -see opening before us an enormous space flooded with light and a huge -mass of many shapes and colors. The point is passed, and behold! before -us lies Constantinople--Constantinople, boundless, superb, sublime! -The glory of creation and mankind! A triumph of beauty, far surpassing -one’s wildest dreams! - -And now; poor wretch, attempt to describe it. Profane with your -commonplace words that divine vision. Who indeed can describe -Constantinople? Chateaubriand? Lamartine? Gautier? What things you have -all stammered and stuttered about it! and yet no one can resist trying. -Words, phrases, comparisons crowd through the brain and drop off the -end of one’s pen. I gaze, talk, write, all at the same time, hopeless -of success, and yet compelled to the attempt by some overmastering -influence. - -[Illustration: View of Pera and Galata.] - -Let us see, then. The Golden Horn lies directly opposite us like a -wide river; on each bank there extends a ridge; upon them stretch -two parallel lines of the city, embracing eight miles of hill and -valley, bay and promontory, a hundred amphitheatres of buildings and -gardens, an enormous space dotted over with houses, mosques, -bazârs, seraglios, baths, kiosks, of an infinite variety of color -and form, and from their midst the sparkling points of thousands of -minarets reaching heavenward like great pillars of ivory; then groves -of cypresses descending in dark ranks from the hilltops to the water’s -edge, fringing the outskirts, outlining the inlets; and through all -a wealth of vegetation, crowning the heights, pushing up between the -roofs, overhanging the water, flinging itself up in radiant luxuriance -wherever it can obtain a foothold. To the right, Galata, her foreground -a forest of masts and flags; above Galata, Pera, the imposing shapes -of her European palaces outlined against the sky; in front, the bridge -connecting the two banks, across which flow continually two opposite, -many-hued streams of life; to the left, Stambul, scattered over her -seven hills, each crowned with a gigantic mosque with its leaden dome -and gilded pinnacle: St. Sophia, white and rose-tinted; Sultan Ahmed, -flanked by six minarets; Suleiman the Great, crowned by ten domes; -the Validêh Sultan, reflected in the waves; on the fourth hill the -mosque of Muhammad II.; on the fifth, that of Selim; on the sixth, the -seraglio of Tekyr; and, high above everything else, the white tower -of the Seraskerat, which commands the shores of two continents from -the Dardanelles to the Black Sea. Beyond the sixth hill of Stambul on -the one hand, and Galata on the other, nothing can be distinguished -save a few vague outlines of buildings, faint indications of towns and -villages, broken up by bays and inlets, fleets of little vessels, and -groups of trees hardly visible through the blue haze, and which appear -more like atmospheric illusions than actual objects. - -How can one possibly take in all the details of this marvellous scene? -For a moment the eye rests upon a Turkish house or gilded minaret close -by, but, immediately abandoning it, roams off once more at will into -that boundless space of light and color, or scales the heights of those -two opposite shores with their range upon range of stately buildings, -groves, and gardens, like the terraces of some enchanted city, while -the brain, bewildered, exhausted, overpowered, can with difficulty -follow in its wake. - -An inexpressible majestic serenity is diffused throughout this -wonderful spectacle, an indefinable sense of loveliness and youth which -recalls a thousand forgotten tales and dreams of boyhood--something -aërial, mysterious, overpowering, transporting the imagination and -senses far beyond the bounds of the actual. - -The sky, in which are blended together the most delicate shades of blue -and silver, throws everything into marvellous relief, while the water, -of a sapphire blue and dotted over with little purple buoys, reflects -the minarets in long trembling lines of white; the cupolas glisten in -the sunlight; all that mass of vegetation sways and palpitates in the -morning air; clouds of pigeons circle about the mosques; thousands of -gayly-painted and gilded pleasure-boats flash over the surface of the -water; the zephyrs from the Black Sea come laden with the perfumes of a -thousand flower-gardens; and when at length, intoxicated by the sights -and sounds and smells of this paradise, and forgetful of all else, one -turns away, it is only to behold with fresh sensations of wonder and -amazement the shores of Asia, with their imposing panorama of beauty; -Skutari and the nebulous heights of the Bithynian Olympus; the Sea of -Marmora dotted over with little islands and white with sails; and the -Bosphorus, covered with shipping, winding away between two interminable -lines of kiosks, palaces, and villas, to disappear at last mysteriously -amid the most smiling and radiant hillsides of the Orient. To deny that -this is the most beautiful sight on earth would be churlish indeed, as -ungrateful toward God as it would be unjust to his creation; and it is -certain that anything more beautiful would surpass mankind’s powers of -enjoyment. - -On recovering somewhat from my own first overwhelming sensations I -turned to see how the other passengers had been impressed. Every -countenance was transfixed. The eyes of the two Athenian ladies were -suspiciously moist; the Russian mother had, in that supreme moment, -clasped her little Olga to her breast; even the voice of the icy -English priest was now heard for the first time, murmuring to himself, -“Wonderful! wonderful!” - -The vessel having in the mean time dropped anchor not far below the -bridge, we were quickly surrounded by small boats from the shore, which -a moment later discharged a rabble of Greek, Armenian, and Hebrew -porters upon our decks, and these, while anathematizing the aliens -from the other world, at the same time took possession of our property -and our persons. After making some feeble show of resistance, I shook -hands with the captain, gave a kiss to little Olga, and, bidding our -fellow-passengers farewell, went over the side with my friend, where a -four-oared barge rapidly transported us to the custom-house. Thence, -after threading a labyrinth of tortuous streets, we finally reached our -quarters in the Hotel de Byzance on the summit of the hill of Pera. - - - - -FIVE HOURS LATER. - - -The visions of the morning have disappeared, and Constantinople, that -dream of light and beauty, turns out to be a huge city, cut up into -a succession of hills and valleys, a labyrinth of human anthills, -cemeteries, ruins, and desert-places--a mixture without parallel of -civilization and barbarism, reflecting something of every city in -the world, gathering within its borders every aspect of human life. -That comparatively small part enclosed within the walls forms, as it -were, the skeleton of a mighty city; as for the rest, it is a vast -aggregation of barracks, an enormous Asiatic encampment, in which -swarms a population of every race and religion under the sun. It is -a great city in a state of transformation, composed of ancient towns -falling into decay, of new ones built but yesterday, and of still -others in process of erection. Everything is topsy-turvy; on all -sides are seen the traces of some gigantic undertaking--mountains -tunnelled through, hills levelled, suburbs razed to the ground, great -thoroughfares laid out, heaps of stone, and the traces of disastrous -fires, portions of the earth’s surface for ever undergoing some -alteration at the hand of man. The disorder and confusion and the -never-ending succession of strange and unexpected sights make one dizzy. - -Walk down a stately street, and you find it ends in a precipice; come -out of a theatre, and you are surrounded by tombs; climb to the summit -of a hill, beneath your feet you discover a forest, while a new city -confronts you from some neighboring hilltop; the street you have this -moment left suddenly winds away from you through a deep valley half -hidden by trees; walk around a house, you discover a bay; descend a -lane, farewell to the city: you find yourself in a lonely defile, with -nothing to be seen but the sky above you; towns appear and disappear -continually. They start into view over your head, beneath your feet, -over your shoulder, far off, near by, in sun and shadow, on the tops -of mountains and on the shore below. Take a step forward, an immense -panorama is spread out before you; backward, and you see nothing at -all; lift your head, and the points of a thousand minarets flash before -your eyes; turn it, and not one is in sight. The network of streets -winds in and out among the hills, overtopping terraces, grazing the -edges of precipices, passing beneath aqueducts, to break up suddenly -in footpaths leading down some grassy incline to the water’s edge, or -else, skirting piles of ruins, meanders away among rocks and sand to -the open country. Here and there the huge metropolis stops, as it -were, to take breath in the solitude of the country, then recommences, -more crowded, gay, noisy, bewildering, than before; here it spreads -out flat and monotonous, there scales the hillside, disappears over -the summit, disperses; then once more gathers itself together. In one -section it ferments with life, noise, movement; in another there is -the stillness of death; one quarter is all red, another white, a third -shines with gilding, a fourth looks like a mountain of flowers: stately -city, village, country, garden, harbor, wilderness, market, cemetery, -in endless succession, rear themselves, one above another, in such a -manner that certain heights command in a single view all the aspects of -life which are usually found embraced in an entire province. In every -direction a series of strange and unfamiliar shapes is outlined against -the sea and sky, so close together and so indented and broken up by -the extraordinary variety of architectural forms that the eye becomes -confused and the various objects seem to melt one into another. - -In among the Turkish dwelling-houses European palaces rise suddenly up, -spires overtop the minarets, and cupolas crown the garden-terraces, -with battlemented walls behind them; roofs of Chinese kiosks appear -above the façade of a theatre; barred and grated harems face rows of -glazed windows; side by side with open balconies and terraces are found -Moorish buildings with recessed windows and small forbidding doorways. -Shrines to the Madonna are set up beneath Arabian archways; tombs stand -in the courtyards; towers arise amid the hovels; mosques, synagogues, -Greek, Catholic, Armenian churches, crowd one upon the other, as though -each were striving for the mastery, and, from every spot unoccupied by -buildings, cypress and pine, fig and plane trees stretch forth their -branches and tower above the surrounding roofs. - -An indescribable architecture of expedients, following the infinite -caprices of the soil, portions of buildings cut up into sections, -triangular, upright, prone, surrounded and connected by bridges, props, -and defiles, heaped up in confused masses, like huge fragments detached -from a mountain-side. - -At every hundred steps the scene changes. Now you are in a suburb of -Marseilles; turn, and it becomes an Asiatic village; another turn, and -it is a Greek settlement; still another, a suburb of Trebizond. The -language and dress, the faces you meet, the look of the houses in the -various quarters, all suggest a different country from the one you -have just left; they are bits of France, slices of Italy, samples of -England, scraps of Russia. One sees depicted in vivid colors on the -great surface of the city that battle which is here being waged between -the various groups of Christians on the one hand fighting to repossess -themselves of, and Islamism on the other defending with all its -remaining strength, the sacred soil of Constantinople. Stambul, -once entirely Turkish, is assailed on all sides by settlements of -Christians, before whose advance it is slowly giving way all along the -banks of the Golden Horn and the shores of the Sea of Marmora; in other -directions the conquest is proceeding much more rapidly: churches, -hospitals, palaces, public gardens, schools, and factories are rending -asunder the Mussulman’s quarters, encroaching upon his cemeteries, and -advancing from one height to another, until already, on the dismayed -soil, there are sketched the vague outlines of another European city, -as large as the one now covering the banks of the Golden Horn, and -destined one day to embrace the European shore of the Bosphorus. - -[Illustration: Ancient Fountain.] - -But from such general observations as these the attention is distracted -at every step by some fresh object of interest: on one street it is -the monastery of the dervishes, in another a great Moorish building, -a Turkish café, a bazâr, a fountain, an aqueduct. In the course of a -quarter of an hour, too, one is obliged to alter his gait at least a -dozen times. You must descend, mount, climb down some steep incline or -up by stairs cut out of the rock, wade through the mud and surmount a -thousand different obstacles, threading your way now through crowds -of people, then in and out among shrubbery; here stooping to avoid -lines of clothes hung out to dry; at one moment obliged to hold your -breath, at the next inhaling a hundred delicious odors. From a -terrace flooded with light and commanding a magnificent view of the -Bosphorus, Asia, and the blue arch of heaven one step will bring you -to a network of narrow alley-ways, leading in and out among wretched, -half-ruined houses and choked up with heaps of stone and rubbish; -from some delicious retreat filled with verdure and bloom you emerge -on a dry, dusty waste littered with débris; from a thoroughfare -glowing with life, movement, and color you step into some sepulchral -recess, where it seems as though the silence had never been broken -by the sound of a human voice; from the glorious Orient of one’s -dreams to quite another Orient, forbidding, oppressive, falling into -decay, and suggestive of all that is mournful and depressing. After -walking about for a few hours amid this medley of strange sights, -one’s brain becomes completely confused. Were any one to suddenly -put the question to you, “What sort of a place is Constantinople?” -you would only stare at him vacantly, quite incapable of giving any -intelligible reply. Constantinople is a Babylon, a world, a chaos.--Is -it beautiful?--Marvellously.--Ugly?--Horribly so.--Do you like it?--It -fascinates me.--Shall you remain?--How on earth can I tell? Can any one -tell how long he is likely to stay on another planet? - -You return at last to your lodgings, enthusiastic, disappointed, -enchanted, disgusted, stunned, stupefied, your head whirling around -like that of a person in the first stages of brain fever. This -condition gradually gives way to one of complete prostration, utter -exhaustion of mind and body; you have lived years in the course of a -few hours, and feel yourself aged. - -And the population of this huge city? - - - - -THE BRIDGE. - - -The best place from which to see the population of Constantinople is -the floating bridge, about a quarter of a mile long, which connects the -extreme point of Galata with the opposite shore of the Golden Horn, -just below the mosque of the Validêh Sultan. Both banks are European -territory, but, notwithstanding this fact, the bridge may be said to -connect Europe and Asia, since nothing in Stambul but the ground itself -is European, and even those quarters occupied by Christians have taken -on an Asiatic character. The Golden Horn, though in appearance a river, -in reality separates two different worlds, like an ocean. European news -reaches Galata and Pera, and at once it is in every one’s mouth, and -circulates rapidly, fresh, minute, and accurate, while in Stambul it -is heard only like some vague, far-away echo; the fame of worldwide -reputations and the most startling events roll back from before that -little strip of water as from some insuperable barrier, and across that -bridge, daily traversed by a hundred thousand feet, an idea does not -pass once in ten years. - -[Illustration: Bridge of Galata.] - -Standing there, you can see all Constantinople pass by in the course -of an hour. Two human currents flow incessantly back and forth from -dawn to sunset, affording a spectacle which the market-places of India, -the Pekin fetes, or the fairs of Nijnii-Novgorod can certainly give -but a faint conception of. In order to get anything like a clear idea -you must fix your attention on some particular point and look nowhere -else. The instant you allow your eyes to wander everything becomes -confused and you lose your head. The crowd surges by in great waves of -color, each group of persons representing a different nationality. Try -to imagine the most extravagant contrasts of costume, every variety of -type and social class, and your wildest dreams will fall short of the -reality; in the course of ten minutes and in the space of a few feet -you will have seen a mixture of race and dress you never conceived of -before. - -Behind a crowd of Turkish porters, who go by on a run, bending beneath -the weight of enormous burdens, there comes a sedan chair inlaid with -mother-of-pearl and ivory, out of which peeps the head of an Armenian -lady; on either side of it may be seen a Bedouin wrapped in his white -cape, and an old Turk wearing a white muslin turban and blue caftan; a -young Greek trots by, followed by his dragoman dressed in embroidered -zouaves; next comes a dervish in his conical hat and camel’s-hair -mantle, who jumps aside to make room for the carriage of an European -ambassador preceded by liveried outriders. One can hardly be said to -actually see all of these, only to catch glimpses of them as they flash -by. Before you have time to turn around you find yourself surrounded -by a Persian regiment in their towering caps of black astrakhan; -close behind them comes a Hebrew, clad in a long yellow garment open -up the sides; then a dishevelled gypsy, her baby slung in a sack on -her back; next a Catholic priest, with his staff and breviary; while -advancing among a mixed crowd of Greeks, Turks, and Armenians may be -seen a gigantic eunuch on horseback, shouting _Vardah!_ (Make way!), -and, closely following him, a Turkish carriage decorated with flowers -and birds and filled with the ladies of a harem, dressed in green -and violet and enveloped in great white veils; behind them comes a -Sister of Charity from one of the Pera hospitals, and after her an -African slave carrying a monkey, and a story-teller in the garb of a -necromancer. One point which strikes the stranger as being singular, -although it is in reality the most natural thing in the world, is that -all this queer multitude of people pass one another without so much -as a glance, just as though it were some London crowd; no one stops; -every one hurries on intent upon his own affairs, and out of a hundred -faces that pass by not one will wear a smile. The Albanian in his -long white garment, with pistols thrust in his belt, brushes against -the Tartar clad in sheepskin; the Turk guides his richly-caparisoned -ass between two files of camels; close behind the aide-de-camp of -one of the imperial princes, mounted on an Arabian charger, a cart -rumbles along piled up with the odd-looking effects of some Turkish -household. A Mussulman woman on foot, a veiled female slave, a Greek -with her long flowing hair surmounted by a little red cap, a Maltese -hidden in her black _faldetta_, a Jewess in the ancient costume of her -nation, a negress wrapped in a many-tinted Cairo shawl, an Armenian -from Trebizond, all veiled in black--a funereal apparition; these and -many more follow each other in line as though it were a procession -gotten up to display the dress of the various nations of the world. -It is an ever-changing mosaic, a kaleidoscopic view of race, costume, -and religion, which forms and dissolves with a rapidity the eye and -brain can with difficulty follow. It is quite interesting to fix your -gaze on the footway of the bridge and look for a while at nothing -but the feet: every style of footwear that the world has known, from -that which obtained in Eden up to the very latest phase of Parisian -fashion, goes by--yellow _babbuccie_, the red slipper of the Armenian, -turquoise-blue of the Greek, and black of the Israelite--sandals, high -boots from Turkistan, Albanian leggings, slashed shoes, _gambass_ of -the Asia Minor horsemen of all colors, gold-embroidered slippers, -Spanish _alpargatas_, feet shod in leather, satin, rags, wood, -crowded so close together that in looking at one you are aware of a -hundred. And while thus engaged you must be on your guard to avoid -being knocked down. Now it is a water-carrier with his huge water-skin -on his back, or a Russian lady going by on horseback; now a troop of -imperial soldiers wearing the uniform of zouaves, who advance as though -charging the enemy; now a procession of Armenian porters, who pass -two by two, carrying huge bales of goods suspended from long poles -across their shoulders; then a crowd of Turks push their way to right -and left through the throng in order to embark on some of the many -little steamboats which, starting from the bridge, ply up and down -the Bosphorus and Golden Horn. It is one continuous tramp and roar, a -murmur of hoarse gutturals and incomprehensible interjections, among -which the occasional French or Italian words which reach the ear seem -like rays of light seen through a thick darkness. The figures which -strike the fancy most forcibly of all are, perhaps, those of the -Circassians. These wild, bearded men, who pass with measured tread -in groups of four or five, wearing large fur caps like those of the -ancient Napoleon guard, and long black caftans, with daggers thrust -in the belt and a silver cartridge-box suspended on the breast, look -like veritable types of brigands, or as though their sole business -in Constantinople might be the sale of a sister or daughter dragged -thither by hands already imbued with Russian blood. Then there is -the Syrian, clad in a long Byzantine dolman, with a gold-striped -handkerchief wrapped about his head; the Bulgarian, in sombre-colored -tunic and fur-edged cap; the Georgian, with his casque of dressed -leather and tunic gathered into a metal belt; the Greek from the -Archipelago, covered with lace, silken tassels, and shining buttons. -From time to time it seems as though the crowd were receding somewhat, -but it is only to surge forward once more in great, overpowering waves -of color crested with white turbans like foam, in whose midst may -occasionally be seen a high hat or umbrella or the towering headgear of -some European lady tossed hither and thither by that Mussulman torrent. - -It is stupefying merely to note the diversity of religions represented. -Here gleams the shining pate of a Capuchin father; there towers aloft -the _ulema’s_ Janissary turban; farther on the black veil of the -Armenian priest floats in the breeze; _imams_ pass in their white -tunics; nuns of the Stigmata; chaplains of the Turkish army clad in -green and carrying sabres; Dominican brothers; pilgrims returned from -Mecca wearing talismans about their necks; Jesuits; dervishes; and -these last, queerly enough, carry umbrellas to protect them from the -sun, while in the mosques they may be seen tearing their flesh in -self-inflicted torture for their sins. - -To one who watches attentively a thousand amusing and interesting -little incidents detach themselves from the general confusion. Now -it is a eunuch, who glares out of the corner of his eye at a young -Christian dandy caught peering too curiously into the carriage of -his mistress; a French _cocotte_, dressed in the latest fashion, -who follows the gloved and bejewelled son of a pasha; a sergeant of -cavalry in full-dress uniform, who, stopping short in the middle of -the bridge, and, seizing his nose between two fingers, emits a trumpet -blast loud enough to make one jump; or a quack, who, in return for -some poor wretch’s piece of money, makes a cabalistic sign on his -forehead supposed to restore his eyesight; here a large family-party, -newly arrived, have gotten separated in the crowd: the mother rushes -hither and thither, searching for her children, who, on their part, are -weeping at the tops of their voices, while the men of the party try -to mend matters by laying about them in all directions; a lady from -Stambul passes by, and under pretence of adjusting her veil gets a good -look at the train of a lady from Pera. Horses, camels, sedan chairs, -carriages, ox-carts, casks on wheels, bleeding donkeys, skinny dogs, -pass in a long file, dividing the crowd in two. Sometimes a big fat -pasha _of the three horse-tails_ goes by in a magnificent carriage, -followed on foot by a negro, his guard, and his pipe-bearer. The Turks -all salute him, touching the forehead and the breast, while a throng -of Mussulman beggars, horrible, meagre-looking wretches, with muffled -faces and bare chests, hurl themselves at the carriage-windows, begging -vociferously for alms. Eunuchs out of employment pass in groups of -two and three or a half dozen at a time, with cigarettes in their -mouths, easily distinguished by their corpulency, their long arms, and -great black cloaks. Pretty little Turkish girls, dressed like boys in -green trousers and red or yellow waistcoats, run and jump about with -catlike agility, pushing their way through the crowd with soft little -crimson-tinted hands; shoe-cleaners with their gilded boxes; wandering -barbers, their stool and basin ready at hand; venders of water and -Turkish sweetmeats can be seen in every direction, threading their way -through the press and shouting out their wares and avocations in Greek -and Turkish. At every step you meet a military uniform, officers in -fiery and scarlet trousers, their breasts glittering with decorations; -grooms of the Seraglio gotten up like generals in command of an army; -policemen carrying whole arsenals at their belts; _zeibeks_, or free -soldiers, wearing those enormous breeches with pockets behind which -give them outlines like the Hottentot Venus; imperial guards with -nodding white plumes on their helmets, and breasts covered with gold -lace; city guards, who march about carrying handcuffs--Constantinople -city guards! One might as well speak of people who had been charged -with the duty of keeping down the Atlantic Ocean. One curious contrast -is that which is found between the rich clothing on the one hand and -the miserable rags on the other, between persons so laden down with -the quantity and magnificence of their apparel as to look like walking -bazârs and others who scarcely may be said to have any apparel at all. -The nakedness alone is a noteworthy sight. Every tint of human skin -can be found, from the milk-white Albanian to the jet-black slave from -Central Africa or blue-black native of Darfur; breasts which look as -though they would resound at a blow like a bronze vase or break in -pieces like an earthenware pot; hard, oily, wooden surfaces, or shaggy -like the hide of a wild boar; brawny arms tattooed with outlines of -leaves and flowers or rude representations of ships under full sail, -and hearts transfixed by arrows. All such particulars, however, as -these cannot possibly be noted in the course of a single visit to the -bridge. While you are trying to make out the designs tattooed on an -arm, your guide is calling your attention to a Serb, a Montenegrin, -a Wallach, an Ukrainian Cossack, a Cossack of the Don, an Egyptian, -a native of Tunis, a prince of Imerezia. There is hardly time even -to make a note of the different nationalities. It is as though -Constantinople still maintained her former position as queen of three -continents and capital of twenty tributary kingdoms. Yet even this -would hardly account for the extraordinary features of that spectacle, -and one amuses himself by fancying that some mighty deluge has swept -over the neighboring continent, causing a sudden influx of immigration. -An expert eye can still distinguish in that mighty human torrent the -distinctive features and costumes of Caramania and Anatolia, of Cypress -and of Candia, of Damascus and Jerusalem--Druses, Kurds, Maronites, -Telemans, Pumacs, and Kroats, and all the innumerable variety of the -innumerable confederations of anarchies extending from the Nile to the -Danube and from the Euphrates to the Adriatic. Those in search of the -beautiful and those with a craving for the horrible will find, equally, -their wildest hopes surpassed. Raphael would have been in ecstasies, -Rembrandt beside himself with delight. The purest examples of Grecian -beauty and that of the Caucasian races appear side by side with snub -noses and receding foreheads. Women pass with the look and bearing of -queens, others who might pose as furies. There are painted faces and -faces disfigured by disease and wounds, colossal feet and the tiny feet -of the Circassian no longer than your hand; gigantic porters, great fat -Turks, and negroes like dried-up skeletons, ghosts of human beings who -fill you with horror and pity; every aspect of human life, extremes of -asceticism and voluptuousness, utter weariness, radiant luxury, and -wasted misery; and, still more remarkable than the variety of human -beings, is that of the garments they wear. Any one with an eye for -color would find himself in clover. No two persons are dressed alike. -Some heads are enveloped in shawls, others crowned with rags, others -decked out like savages--shirts and undervests striped or particolored -like a harlequin’s dress; belts bristling with weapons, some of -them reaching from the waist to the arm-pits; Mameluke trousers, -knee-breeches, tunics, togas, long cloaks which sweep the ground, capes -trimmed with ermine, waistcoats encrusted with gold, short sleeves and -balloon-shaped ones, monastic garbs and theatre costumes; men dressed -like women, women who seem to be men, and peasants with the air of -princes; a ragged magnificence, an exuberance of color, a profusion -of ornament, braid, fringe, frippery of all sorts; a childish and -theatrical display of decoration, which makes one think of a ball given -by the inmates of an insane asylum, who have decked themselves out with -the contents of all the peddlers’ packs in the world. - -Above the babel of sounds made by all this multitude one hears the -piercing cries of the Greek newsboys selling newspapers in all -languages under heaven, the stentorian tones of the porters, loud -laughter of the Turkish women; the infantile voices of the eunuchs; the -shrill falsetto of a blind beggar reciting verses from the Koran; the -hollow-resounding noise of the bridge itself as it sways under this -multitude of feet; the bells and whistles from a hundred steamboats, -whose smoke, coming in great puffs, from time to time envelops the -entire throng of passers-by. This vast concourse of people embarks in -the boats which leave every moment for Skutari, the villages along the -Bosphorus, and the suburbs on the Golden Horn; spreads out over the -bazârs and mosques of Stambul, the suburbs of Fanar and Balat, to the -most distant points on the Sea of Marmora; flows like an advancing -tide in two great currents over the Frankish shore, to the right in -the direction of the sultan’s palaces, to the left toward the ancient -quarters of Pera, and, receding once more across the bridge, is fed -by innumerable little streams flowing down the steep, narrow lanes -and byways which cover the hillsides of both banks, connecting ten -cities and a hundred villages, and binding together Asia and Europe in -an intricate network of commerce, intrigue, and mystery, at the mere -thought of which one’s mind becomes hopelessly confused. - -One would naturally expect all this to make an amusing and enlivening -spectacle, but it is quite otherwise: after the first sensations of -excitement and wonder have died down the brilliant coloring begins -to pale; it no longer wears the aspect of a gay Carnival procession, -but humanity itself seems to be passing in review--humanity with all -its miseries and follies, its infinite discord of clashing beliefs -and irreconcilable customs, a pilgrimage of decayed races and -humbled nations; a boundless tide of human misery; wrongs to be set -right, stains to be washed out, chains to be broken; an accumulation -of tremendous problems which blood alone, and that in torrents, is -capable of solving--a sight at once overpowering and depressing. One’s -interest, too, is rather blunted than aroused by the enormous number -and variety of strange sights and objects. What sudden mysterious -changes the mind is subject to! Here was I, not a quarter of an hour -after reaching the bridge, leaning listlessly against the side, -scribbling on the wooden beam with a pencil, and acknowledging, between -my yawns, that Madame de Staël was pretty near the truth when she -pronounced travelling to be the most melancholy of human pleasures. - - - - -STAMBUL. - - -In order to restore one’s equilibrium after the bewildering scenes -of the bridge it is only necessary to follow one of the many narrow -streets which wind up the hillsides of Stambul. Here there reigns -a profound peace, and you may contemplate at your leisure those -mysterious and evasive aspects of Oriental life of which only flying -glimpses can be obtained on the other bank amid the noise and confusion -of European manners and customs. Here everything is Eastern in its -strictest sense. After walking for fifteen minutes the last sounds -have died away, the crowds entirely disappeared; you are surrounded -on every side by little wooden, brightly-painted houses, whose second -stories extend out over the ground floor, and the third again over -those; in front of the windows are balconies enclosed with glass -and close wooden gratings, which look like little houses thrown out -from the main dwelling, and lend to the city an indescribable air -of secresy and melancholy. In some places the streets are so narrow -that the overhanging parts of opposite houses nearly touch, and you -walk for long distances in the shadow of these human bird-cages and -literally beneath the feet of the Turkish women, who pass the greater -part of the day in them, seeing nothing but a narrow strip of sky. -All the doors are tightly shut, and the windows on the ground floor -protected by gratings. Everything breathes of jealousy and suspicion; -one seems to be traversing a city of convents. Sometimes the stillness -is suddenly broken by a ripple of laughter close at hand, and, looking -quickly up, you may discover at some small opening or loophole the -flash of a bright eye or a shining lock of hair, which, however, -instantly disappears; or, again, you surprise a conversation being -carried on in quick, subdued tones across the street, which breaks off -suddenly at the sound of your footsteps, and you continue your way -wondering what thread of mystery or intrigue you may have broken in -your passage. Seeing no one yourself, you have the consciousness of a -thousand eyes upon you; apparently quite alone, you yet feel yourself -to be surrounded by restless, palpitating life. Wishing, possibly, to -pass unobserved, you tread lightly, walk rapidly, but all the same you -are watched on all sides. So profound is the silence that the mere -opening and shutting of a door or window startles you as though it -were some tremendous noise. One might suppose that the aspect of these -streets would become monotonous and tiresome, but it is not so. A mass -of foliage out of which issues the white point of a minaret, a Turk -dressed in red coming toward you, a black servant standing immovable -before a doorway, a strip of Persian carpet hanging from a window, -suffice to form a picture so full of life and harmony that one could -stand gazing at it by the hour. Of the few persons who do pass by, -none appear to notice you; only occasionally you hear a voice at your -shoulder call out “_Giaour!_” (infidel), and turn just in time to see -a boy’s head disappearing behind a window-shutter. Again, hearing a -door being opened from within, you pause expectantly, fully prepared -to see the favorite beauty of some harem come forth in full costume, -instead of which an European lady in bonnet and train appears and, with -a murmured _Adieu_ or _Au revoir_, walks rapidly away, leaving you -open-mouthed with astonishment. - -In another street, entirely Turkish and silent, you are suddenly -startled by the sound of a horn and the stamping of horses’ feet; -turning to see what it means, you find it difficult to believe your -eyes when a large car rolls gayly into sight over some tracks which up -to that moment you had not noticed, filled with Turks and Europeans, -with its officials in uniform and its printed tariff of fares, for all -the world like a _tramway_ in Vienna or Paris. The effect of such an -apparition, seen in one of those streets, is not to be described: it is -like a burlesque or some huge joke, and you laugh aloud as you watch -it disappear, as though you had never seen anything of the kind before. -With the omnibus the life and movement of Europe seem to vanish, and -you find yourself back in Asia, like a change of scene at the theatre. -Issuing from almost any of these silent, deserted streets, you come out -upon small open spaces shaded by one huge plane tree: on one hand there -is a fountain out of which camels are drinking; on the other, a café in -front of which a number of Turks recline on mats, smoking and gazing -into vacancy; beside the door stands a large fig tree, up whose trunk -a vine clambers, extending out over the branches and falling in waving -garlands to the ground, and between whose leaves enchanting glimpses -are caught of the blue waters of the Sea of Marmora dotted all over -with white sails. The flood of light and the death-like stillness give -these places a certain character, half solemn, half melancholy, which -makes an indelible impression upon the mind: one is carried on and on, -drawn, as it were, out of himself by a subtle sense of mystery which -steeps the senses little by little, until he loses all idea of time and -space and seems to float on a vague cloud of dreams. - -[Illustration: Fountain in Court of the Mosque of Ahmed.] - -From time to time you come upon vast barren tracts devastated by some -recent fire; hillsides with a few houses scattered here and there, -and grassy spaces between them, intersected with goat-paths; tops of -hills from which can be seen hundreds of houses and gardens, -streets and lanes, but not a living creature, a wreath of smoke, an -open door, or the faintest indication of human life, until one almost -begins to think himself alone in the midst of this immense city, and, -thinking so, to become a trifle uncomfortable. But just follow one of -those steep little streets down to the bottom, and in an instant the -whole scene changes. You are now on one of the great thoroughfares of -Stambul, flanked by splendid buildings, whose beauty almost defies your -powers of admiration. On every side rise mosques, kiosks, minarets, -arcades, fountains of marble and lapis lazuli, mausoleums of sultans -glowing with arabesques and inscriptions in gold, their walls covered -with mosaics, their roofs of inlaid cedar-wood, and everywhere that -exuberance of vegetation which, pushing its way through gilded -railings and scaling garden-walls, fills the air with the perfume of -its blossoms. Here are met the equipages of pashas, aides-de-camp in -full uniform, officials, employés, eunuchs belonging to great houses, -and files of servants and parasites coming and going in a continual -succession between the residences of the ministers: one recognizes the -fact that he is in the metropolis of a great empire, and admires it in -all its magnificence of display. The brilliant atmosphere and graceful -architecture, the murmuring of the fountains, the bright sunshine -and delicious coolness of the shade, all affect the senses like -subdued music, and a hundred smiling images crowd through the mind. -Following these thoroughfares, you emerge upon the large open squares, -from which arise the mosques of the various sultans, before whose -stately magnificence you pause in wondering awe. Each one of these -mighty buildings forms the centre, as it were, of a small separate -city, with its colleges, hospitals, stores, libraries, schools, and -baths, whose existence is at first hardly suspected, so overshadowed -are they by the huge dome which they encircle. The architecture, so -simple in appearance when seen from a distance, now presents a mass -of detail attracting the eye in all directions at once. There are -little cupolas overlaid with lead, oddly-shaped roofs rising one above -another, aërial galleries, enormous porticoes, windows broken by little -columns, festooned archways, spiral minarets, lines of terraces with -open-work carving, and capitals supported on stylobates, doorways and -fountains covered with ornament, walls picked out in gold and every -color of the rainbow--a mass of carving and fretwork, light, graceful, -exquisite, across which the shadows chase each other from great oak -and cypress trees and willows, while clouds of birds, issuing from the -overspreading branches, fly in slow circles around the interiors of -the domes, filling every corner of the immense edifice with harmony. -And now, for the first time, you begin to be conscious of a feeling -stronger and more underlying than a mere sense of the beautiful. These -huge structures seem like the marble witnesses of an order of thought -and belief altogether different from that in which you have been -born and reared--the imposing framework of a hostile race and faith, -testifying in a mute but expressive language of lofty heights and -glorious lines to the might of a God who is not your God, and a people -before whom your fathers have trembled, filling you with admiration not -unmixed with awe, which, for a time at least, checks your curiosity and -holds you at a distance. - -Within the shady courtyards Turks may be seen at the fountains busied -about their ablutions, peasants crouched at the foot of the great -pillars, veiled women who pass with deliberate steps beneath the lofty -arcades: over all there broods a profound quiet, a tinge of sadness and -voluptuousness, whose source you try in vain to discover, exercising -your mind as upon some enigma. Galata, Pera--how far away they seem! It -is as though you were in another world alone, in a different age. This -is the Stambul of Suleiman the Magnificent or Bayezid II., and you feel -dazed and confused when, on turning away from the square and losing -sight of the stupendous monument of the power of the Osmans, you find -yourself once more confronted by the Constantinople of to-day, of wood, -poverty, and decay, filled with dirt, wretchedness, and misery. - -As you go on and on the houses gradually lose their bright coloring, -the vine-trellises disappear, moss creeps over the basins of the -fountains, the mosques become small and mean, with wooden minarets -and cracked, discolored walls, around which brambles and nettles have -sprung up; ruined mausoleums, broken stairways, tortuous lanes choked -with rubbish and reeking with damp; deserted quarters full of gloom, -whose silence is unbroken save for the flapping of birds’ wings or -the guttural cry of a muezzin calling out the word of God from some -distant unseen minaret. On the face of no city in the world is written -in such plain characters the nature of her people’s beliefs. Everything -grand or beautiful comes from God, or the sultan--His representative -upon earth. All the rest, being merely temporary, is not worthy of -consideration and bears the stamp of an utter indifference to mundane -things. This pastoral tribe has become a nation, but the instinctive -love of nature, of a life of contemplation and idleness, is as strong -among its people as ever, and has lent to their metropolis the look of -an encampment. Stambul is not a city; she neither works nor thinks, -nor does she create; civilization knocks at her doors, lays siege to -her streets, and she dozes and dreams in the shadow of her mighty -mosques and pays no heed. It is more like a city let loose, scattered, -disfigured, representing rather the halt of a wandering race than the -stronghold of an established state; a number of cities sketched in -outline, an immense spectacular show, rather than a great metropolis, -of which no just idea can be obtained without traversing every part. - -Taking, then, for our starting-point the first hill, we are at that -point of the triangle bathed by the Sea of Marmora. This is, so -to speak, the crown of Stambul, an imposing district crowded with -associations and filled with magnificent buildings. Here is the ancient -Seraglio, occupying the site where arose first, Byzantium, with her -acropolis and temple of Jupiter, and then the palace of the empress -Placidia and the baths of Arcadius; here stand the mosques of St. -Sophia and the Sultan Ahmed; and here is the At-Meidan, covering the -space formerly occupied by the Hippodrome, where once, in the midst -of an Olympus of marble and bronze and urged on by the frantic cries -of a multitude clad in silk and purple, gilded chariots were driven -furiously seven times around the course beneath the impassive gaze of -the pearl-bedecked emperors. Descending the first hill into a shallow -valley, we come upon the western walls of the Seraglio, marking the -confines of ancient Byzantium,[A] and directly before us rises the -Sublime Porte, containing the offices of the prime minister, foreign -minister, and minister of the interior--silent, gloomy regions where -seem gathered all the sombreness and melancholy of the fate of the -empire. - - [A] Other authorities place the walls of ancient Byzantium - considerably farther west than this point.--TRANS. - -From here we ascend the second hill, where rise the Nûri Osmaniyeh -mosque (Light of Osman) and the Burnt Column of Constantine, formerly -surmounted by a bronze statue of Apollo, whose head was a likeness of -the great emperor himself. This column marked the centre of the forum, -and was surrounded by marble porticoes, triumphal arches, and statues. -On the farther side of this hill opens the Valley of Bazârs, extending -from the Bayezid mosque all the way to that of the Validêh Sultan, and -including a huge labyrinth of covered streets filled with noise and -confusion and crowded with people, from which you issue with your ears -deafened and your head in a whirl. - -Upon the summit of the third hill, overlooking both the Sea of Marmora -and the Golden Horn, stands the gigantic rival of St. Sophia, the -mosque of Suleiman--_joy and glory of Stambul_, as it is called by -the Turkish poets--and the marvellous tower of the minister of war, -erected on the ruins of the ancient palace of the Constantines, at one -time occupied by Muhammad the Conqueror, and converted later on into a -seraglio for the old sultanas. - -[Illustration: Burnt Column of Constantine.] - -Between the third and fourth hills the enormous aqueduct of the emperor -Valens stretches like an aërial bridge composed of two tiers of -delicate arches, around which vines trail and clamber, falling in -graceful festoons as far as the roofs of the houses crowded together in -the valley beneath. - -Passing under the aqueduct, we now ascend the fourth hill. Here, on the -ruins of the celebrated church of the Holy Apostles, founded by the -empress Helena and rebuilt by Theodosius, rises the mosque of Muhammad -II., surrounded by schools, hospitals, and khâns. Alongside the mosque -are the slave-bazâr, the baths of Muhammad, and the granite column of -Marcian surmounted by a marble capital, on which is a cippus still -ornamented with the imperial eagles. Near by is the Et-Meidan, where -the famous massacre of the Janissaries took place. - -Traversing another valley, likewise closely built up, we mount the -fifth hill, surmounted by the mosque of Selim, near the site of the -ancient cistern of St. Peter, now converted into a garden. Beneath us, -along the shores of the Golden Horn, extends Fanar, the Greek quarter -and seat of the Patriarch, where ancient Byzantium has taken refuge, -the scene of the revolting carnage of 1821. - -Descending into a fifth valley and ascending a sixth hill, we find -ourselves upon the territory once occupied by the eight cohorts of -Constantine’s forty thousand Goths, beyond the circuit of the earlier -walls, which only embraced the fourth hill: this is the precise spot -assigned to the seventh cohort, hence the name Hebdomon given to that -quarter. - -On the sixth hill may be seen still standing the walls of the palace[B] -of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, where the emperors were formerly -crowned, now called by the Turks Tekfûr Serai--Palace of the Princes. -At the foot of the hill lies Balat, the Ghetto of Constantinople, a -filthy quarter extending along the banks of the Horn as far as the -city-walls: and beyond Balat is the ancient suburb of Blachernæ, where -once arose the mighty palace with its gilded roofs, a favorite resort -of the emperors, and famous for the sacredness of the relics contained -in the church erected by the empress Pulcheria. Now the whole quarter -is filled with decay and ruin and melancholy. At the Blachernæ begin -the turreted walls which extend from the Golden Horn across to the Sea -of Marmora, enclosing the seventh hill, on which stood the Forum of -Arcadius, and where may still be seen the pedestal of the column of -Arcadius--the largest and most eastern of the hills of Stambul, between -which and the other six flows the little river Lycus, which, entering -the city near the Charsiou[C] Gate, empties itself into the Sea of -Marmora near the ancient gate of Theodosius. - - [B] Prof. A. Van Millingen places the site of the Hebdomon Palace - on the shore of the Sea of Marmora, outside the walls, near - the village of Makri Keui; other authorities state that there - are unanswerable arguments in favor of this view.--TRANS. - - [C] The Lycus enters the city near the Gate of Pusæus and empties - into the Sea of Marmora at Vlanga-Bostan.--TRANS. - -From the walls of the Blachernæ we overlook the suburb of Ortajilar, -inclining gently to the water’s edge and crowned with its many gardens; -beyond it lies that of Eyûb, the consecrated soil of the Mussulman, -with its charming mosques and vast cemetery shaded by a forest of -cypresses and white with mausoleums and tombstones; back of Eyûb is the -elevated plain which was formerly used as a military camp, and where -the legions elevated the newly-made emperors upon their shields;[D] and -beyond this, again, other villages are seen, their bright colors set in -a framework of green woods and bathed by the farthermost waters of the -Golden Horn. - - [D] This ceremony more probably took place near Makri Keui on the - Sea of Marmora.--TRANS. - -Such is Stambul, truly a divine vision. But when it is remembered -that this huge Asiatic village surmounts the ruins of that second -Rome, of that great museum of treasures stripped from all Italy, from -Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, one’s heart sinks within him: the mere -thought of such an accumulation of works of art makes one dizzy. And -where are they now, those great arcades which traversed the city from -wall to sea, those gilded domes and colossal equestrian statues which -surmounted the mighty columns before baths and amphitheatres, those -brazen sphinxes seated upon pedestals of porphyry, those temples and -palaces which once reared their mighty façades of granite in the midst -of an aërial throng of marble deities and silver emperors? All have -disappeared or been changed past recognition. The equestrian statues -of bronze have been recast into guns, the copper coverings of the -obelisks converted into money, the sarcophagi of the emperors turned -into fountains. The church of St. Irene is an armory: the cistern of -Constantine[E] is a workshop; the pedestal of the column of Arcadius -is occupied by a blacksmith; the Hippodrome is a horse-market; the -foundations of the royal palaces are heaps of stones overgrown with -ivy; the pavements of the amphitheatre, grass-grown cemeteries. A few -inscriptions, half obliterated by fire or defaced by the simetars of -the invaders, are all that remain to tell us that on these hills once -stood the marvellous metropolis of the Empire of the East. And over all -this mass of ruin and decay Stambul sits brooding, like some odalisque -above a sepulchre, awaiting her hour. - - [E] The Cistern Basilica, ascribed to Constantine the Great, is - still used for its original purpose. The Cistern Philoxenes - is occupied by silk-spinners.--TRANS. - - -AT THE HOTEL. - -And now, if my readers will kindly accompany me back to the hotel, we -will rest for a while. The greater part of what I have described thus -far having been seen by my friend and myself on the very day of our -arrival, one may easily imagine what a condition our brains were in -as we wended our way toward the hotel at about nightfall. As we passed -through the streets neither of us opened our lips, but on reaching -our room we dropped on the sofa, and, facing about, asked each other -simultaneously, - -“Well, what do you think of it? How does it strike you?” - -“Fancy my having come here to paint!” - -“And I to write!” - -And we laughed in each other’s faces with amused compassion. - -Indeed, that evening and for many days after His Majesty Abdul-Aziz -might have offered me a province in Asia Minor as a reward for a -half-dozen lines of description of the capital of his state, and I -could not have produced them, so true is it that you must get a little -distance away from great objects before you can describe them, and -if you wish to remember them correctly, you must first forget them -somewhat. - -And then how could one possibly do any writing in a room from whose -windows could be seen the Bosphorus, Skutari, and the summit of the -Olympus? The hotel was a sight in itself. At all hours of the day -people of every country in the world were coming and going through -the halls and corridors, up and down the stairs. Every evening twenty -different nationalities were represented at table. I could not get the -idea out of my head during dinner that I must be an envoy sent out by -the Italian government, and that it devolved upon me to introduce some -grave question of international importance with the dessert. There were -many charming countenances of ladies; rough, uncombed artist heads; -seamy adventurers lying in wait for your money; profiles like those -of the Byzantine Virgin, lacking nothing but the golden nimbus; queer -faces and sinister ones; and every day this motley company changed. -At dessert, when every one was talking, it sounded like the Tower of -Babel. On the day of our arrival we struck up an acquaintance with -a party of Russians infatuated with Constantinople, and after that -every evening, when we met at table, we would compare notes. Each -one had visited some point of interest during the day and had some -interesting experience to relate. This one had been to the top of the -Serasker Tower, that one to the Eyûb cemetery; another had spent the -day in Skutari; another was just back from a trip on the Bosphorus. -The conversation glowed with vivid descriptions, life, color, and when -one’s command of language failed him the delicious perfumed wines of -the Archipelago were at hand to loose his tongue and stimulate him -to fresh efforts. There were, it is true, some fellow-countrymen of -mine there who made me furiously angry--moneyed idiots who from soup -to dessert never left off abusing Constantinople, and Providence for -bringing them there. There were no sidewalks, the theatres were badly -lighted, there was no way of passing the evening--apparently they had -come to Constantinople to pass their evenings. One of them having made -the trip on the Danube, I asked him how he had liked the famous river, -upon which he assured me that there was no place on earth where they -understood so well how sturgeon should be cooked as on the Austrian -Royal and Imperial line of steamboats! Another was a charming example -of the lady-killer style of traveller, whose main object in going -about the world is to make conquests, carefully recorded in a notebook -kept for the purpose. He was a tall, lanky blond, liberally endowed -with the greatest of the three gifts of the Holy Spirit. Whenever the -conversation turned upon Turkish women, he would fix his eyes upon -his plate with a meaning smile and take no part in it, except for an -occasional word or two, when he would break off suddenly, taking a sip -of wine as though he feared he had said too much. He always hurried -into dinner a little behind time, with an important air suggestive of -his having been unavoidably detained by the Sultan, and between the -courses would busy himself in changing mysterious-looking little notes -from one pocket to another, evidently intended to look like billetsdoux -from frail fair ones, but which, oddly enough, bore the unmistakable -stamp of hotel-bills. - -But one certainly does run across all sorts of queer subjects in -the hotels of those cosmopolitan cities: no one would believe it -without seeing for himself. For instance, there was a young Hungarian -there, about thirty years old, a tall, nervous fellow with a pair of -diabolical eyes and a quick, feverish way of talking. After acting for -some time as private secretary to a rich Parisian, he had enlisted -among the French Zouaves in Algiers, was wounded and taken prisoner -by the Arabs, and, escaping later from Morocco, had made his way -back to Europe, where he hastened to The Hague, hoping to receive an -appointment as officer in the war with the _Achins_; failing in this, -he determined to enlist in the Turkish army, but while passing through -Vienna on his way to Constantinople for that purpose he had gotten -mixed up in some affair about a woman. In the duel which ensued he had -received a ball in his neck, the scar from which could still be seen. -Unsuccessful at Constantinople as well, “What,” said he, “is there left -for me to do?--je suis enfant de l’aventure. Fight I must. Well, I have -found the means of getting to India;” and he brought out a steamer -ticket. “I shall enlist as an English soldier: there is always some -fighting going on in the interior, and that is all I care for. Killed? -Well, what if I am? My lungs are all gone, anyhow.” - -Another queer creature was a Frenchman whose life seemed to have been -one prolonged struggle with the postal authorities all over the world. -He had lawsuits pending with the post-office departments of Austria, -France, and England; he wrote protesting articles to the _Neue Freie -Presse_, and fired off telegraphic messages of defiance to every -post-office on the Continent; not a day went by without his having some -noisy altercation at a window where mail was received or distributed; -he never, by any chance, received a letter on time or wrote one that -reached its destination. At table he would give us an account of all -his misfortunes and consequent disputes, invariably winding up with the -statement that the postal system had been the means of shortening his -life. - -Then there was a Greek lady with a strange, wild look and very -curiously dressed: she was always alone, and every day would start -suddenly up in the middle of dinner and leave the table after making a -cabalistic sign over her plate whose significance no one was ever able -to make out. - -I have never forgotten, either, a good-looking young Wallachian couple, -he about twenty-five, she just grown, who only appeared one evening: -it was an undoubted case of elopement, for if you looked fixedly at -them they both turned red and appeared uneasy, and every time the door -opened they jumped as though they were on springs. - -Let me see: what others can I remember? Hundreds, I suppose, were I to -give my mind to it. It was like a magic-lantern show. - -On the days when the steamers were due my friend and I used to find -the greatest amusement in watching the new arrivals as they came into -the hotel, exhausted, confused, some of them still under the influence -of the approach to Constantinople--countenances which seemed to say, -“What world is this? What on earth have we dropped into?” One day a boy -passed us, that instant landed; he was entirely beside himself with -joy at having actually reached Constantinople, the culmination of his -dreams, and was squeezing his father’s hand between both his own in an -ecstasy of delight, while the father, equally moved by the sight of his -son’s happiness, was saying, “Je suis heureux, de te voir heureux, mon -cher enfant.” - -We used to pass the hot part of the day gazing out of our windows at -the Maiden’s Tower, which rises up, white as snow, from a solitary -rock in the Bosphorus just opposite Skutari, and while we told each -other stories about the legend of the young prince of Persia who sucked -the poison from the arm of the beautiful sultana bitten by a snake, a -little fellow of five years old would chatter across at us from the -window of an opposite house, where he appeared every day at the same -hour. - -Everything about that hotel was queer: among other things, we would run -every evening against one or two doubtful-looking characters hovering -around in front of the entrance. They evidently gained a livelihood by -providing artists’ models, and, taking every one for a painter, would -assail all who came and went with the same low-voiced inquiries: “A -Turk? A Greek? An Armenian? A Jewess? A Negress?” - - -CONSTANTINOPLE. - -But suppose, now, we turn our attention again to Constantinople itself, -and wander about as unrestrainedly as birds of the air? It is a place -where one may give free rein to his caprices. You can light your -cigar in Europe and knock the ashes off in Asia, and, getting up in -the morning, ask yourself what part of the world it would be pleasant -to visit during the day, with two continents and two seas to choose -from. Saddled horses stand waiting for you in every square; boats with -their sails spread are ready to take you anywhere you may choose to -go; steamboats lie at every pier awaiting nothing but the signal to -depart; kâiks manned with rowers and skiffs fitted with sails crowd the -landing-places; while an army of guides, speaking every language of -Europe, is at your disposal for as long a time as you may want any of -them. Do you care to hear an Italian comedy? see the Dancing Dervishes? -listen to the buffooneries of Kara-gyuz, the Turkish Punchinello? -be treated to the licentious songs of the Parisian café chantant? -watch the gymnastic performances of a band of gypsies? listen to an -Arabian story-teller? attend a Greek theatre? hear an _imam_ preach? -see the Sultan pass on his way to the mosque? You have but to say -what you prefer and it is ready at hand. Every nationality is at your -service--Armenians to shave you, Hebrews to clean your shoes, Turks to -row your boat, negroes to dry you after the bath, Greeks to bring your -coffee, and one and all to cheat you. Perhaps you are heated from your -walk? here are ices made from the snows of Olympus. Thirsty? you can -drink the waters of the Nile as the Sultan does. Should your stomach -be a little out of order, here is water from the Euphrates to set it -straight, or, if you are nervous, water from the Danube. You can dine -like the Arab of the desert or a gourmand of the _Maison dorée_. If you -want to doze and drowse, there are the cemeteries; to be stirred up -and excited, the bridge of the Validêh Sultan; to dream dreams and see -visions, the Bosphorus; to pass Sunday, the Archipelago of the Princes; -to see Asia Minor, Mt. Bûlgurlû, the Golden Horn, the Galata Tower, -the world, the Serasker Tower. It is, above all, a city of contrasts. -Things which we never think of connecting in our minds are seen there -at a single glance side by side. - -Skutari is the starting-point for the caravans for Mecca, and also -for the express trains for Brusa, the ancient metropolis; the Sofia -railroad passes close by the mysterious walls of the old Seraglio; -Catholic priests bear the Holy Sacrament through the streets escorted -by Turkish soldiers; the common people have their festivals in the -cemeteries; life and death, sorrow and rejoicing, follow so close -upon one another’s heels as to seem all a part of the same function. -There are seen the movement and energy of London side by side with the -lethargic inertia of the East. The greater part of existence is led in -public before your eyes, but over the private side of life there hangs -a close, impenetrable veil of mystery; under that absolute monarchy -there exists a liberty without bounds. - -It is impossible, for several days at least, to get a clear impression -of anything: it seems every moment that if the disorder is not quelled -at once a revolution must break out. Every evening you feel, on -reaching your lodgings, as though you had just returned from a long -journey, and in the morning ask yourself incredulously if Stambul can -really be here, close at hand. There seems to be no place where you can -go to get your brain a little clear; one impression effaces another; -you are torn by conflicting desires; time flies. You think you would -like to spend the rest of your life here, and the next moment wish you -could leave to-morrow. And when it comes to attempting a description of -this chaos--well, there are moments when you are strongly tempted to -bundle together all the books and papers on your table and pitch the -whole thing out of the window. - - - - -ALONG THE GOLDEN HORN. - - -It was not until the fourth day after our arrival that my friend and I -attempted to introduce anything like method into our sightseeing. We -were on the bridge quite early in the morning, still uncertain as to -how we would spend the day, when Yunk proposed that we should make our -first regular expedition with tranquil minds and a well-defined route -for purposes of study and observation. “Let us,” said he, “explore -thoroughly the northern bank of the Golden Horn, if we have to walk -till nightfall to do it; we can breakfast in some Turkish restaurant, -take our noonday nap under a sycamore tree, and come home by water in -a käik.” The suggestion being accepted, we provided ourselves with a -stock of cigars and small change, and, after glancing over the map of -the city, set forth in the direction of Galata. - -If the reader really cares to know anything about Constantinople, I -am afraid he will have to make up his mind to go too, with the clear -understanding, however, that whenever he finds himself getting bored he -is at perfect liberty to leave us. - - -GALATA. - -On reaching Galata the excursion begins. Galata is situated on the hill -which forms the promontory between the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, -the former site of ancient Byzantium’s great cemetery. It is now the -“city” of Constantinople. Its streets, almost all of them narrow and -tortuous, are lined with restaurants, confectioners’, barbers’, and -butchers’ shops, Greek and Armenian cafés, business-houses, merchants’ -offices, workshops, counting-houses--dirty, ill-lighted, damp, and -narrow, like the streets in the lower parts of London. A hurrying, -pushing throng of foot-passengers comes and goes all day long, now -and then crowding to right and left to make room in the middle of the -street for the passage of porters, carriages, donkeys, or omnibuses. -Almost all the business conducted in Constantinople flows through this -quarter. Here are the Bourse, the custom-house, the offices of the -Austrian Lloyd and the French express company, churches and convents, -hospitals and warehouses. An underground railroad connects Galata -and Pera. Were it not for the ever-present turban or fez, one would -hardly know he was in the East at all. On every side is heard French, -Italian, and Genoese. The Genoese are, in fact, almost on their native -soil here, and are still somewhat inclined to assume the airs of -proprietors, as in the days when they opened and closed the harbor at -their will and replied to the emperor’s threats with volleys from their -cannon. Of this ancient glory, however, nothing now remains except a -few old houses supported on great pilasters and heavy arches, and the -ancient edifice which was once the residence of the Podesta. - -Old Galata has almost entirely disappeared. Thousands of squalid houses -have been razed to the ground to make room for two wide streets, one -of which mounts to the summit of the hill toward Pera, while the other -runs parallel with the sea-wall from one end of Galata to the other. -My friend and I took the latter, seeking refuge from time to time in -some shop or other when a huge omnibus rolled by, preceded by Turks -stripped to the waist, who cleared the street by means of long sticks, -with which they laid about them. At every step some fresh cry assailed -the ear, Turkish porters yelling, “_Sacun ha!_” (Make room!); Armenian -water-carriers calling out, “_Varme su!_” and the Greek, “_Crio nero!_” -Turkish donkey-drivers crying, “_Burada!_” venders of sweetmeats, -“_Scerbet!_” newsboys, “_Neologos!_” Frankish cab-drivers, “_Guarda! -guarda!_” - -After walking for ten minutes we were completely stunned. Coming to a -certain place, we noticed with surprise that the paving of the street -suddenly ceased: it had evidently been removed quite recently. We -stopped to examine the roadway and discover, if possible, some reason -for this eccentricity, when an Italian shopkeeper, seeing what we were -about, came to the rescue and satisfied our curiosity. This street, it -seemed, led to the Sultan’s palace, and a few months previously, while -the imperial cortège was passing along it, the horse of His Majesty -Abdul-Aziz stumbled and fell. The good Sultan, much annoyed by this -circumstance, commanded that the pavement should be removed all the -way from the spot where the accident occurred, to the palace; which of -course had been done. Fixing upon this memorable spot as the eastern -boundary of our walk, we now turned our backs upon the Bosphorus -and proceeded, by a series of dark, crooked little streets, in the -direction of the - - -TOWER OF GALATA. - -The city of Galata is shaped like an open fan, of which the tower, -placed on the crest of the hill, represents the pivot. This tower is -round, very lofty, dark in color, and terminates in a conical point -formed by a copper roof, directly beneath which runs a line of large -glazed windows, forming a sort of gallery enclosed with glass, where -a lookout is kept night and day ready to give warning of the first -appearance of fire in any part of the immense city. The Galata of the -Genoese extended as far as this tower, which stands on the exact line -of the walls which once divided it from Pera--walls of which at -present no trace remains;[F] nor is the present tower the same as -that ancient Tower of Christ, erected in memory of the Genoese who -fell in battle, having been rebuilt by Mahmûd II., and prior to that -restored by Selim III.,[G] but it is none the less a monument to the -glory of Genoa, and one upon which no Italian can gaze without feeling -some pride at the thought of that handful of soldiers, merchants, and -sailors--haughty, audacious, proud, stubborn--who for centuries floated -the flag of the mother republic from its summit and treated with the -emperors of the East as equals. - - [F] A few traces of these walls may still be seen near the Galata - Tower.--TRANS. - - [G] The Galata Tower, called in the Middle Ages the Tower of - Christ or of the Cross, was built in 1348, probably on - the foundations of an earlier Byzantine tower ascribed to - Anastasius Dicorus, and in the present century was repaired - by Mahmûd II.--TRANS. - -[Illustration: Tower of Galata.] - -Immediately beyond the tower we came upon a Mussulman cemetery. - - -THE GALATA CEMETERY. - -This is called the Galata Cemetery. It is a great forest of cypress -trees, extending from the summit of the hill of Pera all the way -down the steep declivity, nearly to the edge of the Golden Horn, and -casting its thick shadows over myriads of little stone and marble -pillars--inclining at every angle and scattered irregularly over -the hillside. Some of these are surmounted by round turbans on which -may be seen traces of coloring and inscriptions; others are pointed -at the top, many lie prone upon their sides, while from others the -turbans have been cut clean off, making one fancy that they belong to -Janissaries, whom, even after death, Sultan Mahmûd took occasion to -degrade and insult. The greater part of the graves are merely indicated -by square mounds of earth, having a stone at either end, upon which, -according to Mussulman belief, the two angels Nekir and Munkir take -their seats to judge the soul of the departed. Here and there may be -seen small enclosures surrounded by a low wall or railing, in the -middle of which stands a column surmounted by a huge turban, and all -around it other smaller columns: this is the grave of some pasha or -person of distinction buried in the midst of his wives and children. -Footpaths wind in and out among the graves and trees, crossing and -recrossing one another in all directions from one end of the cemetery -to the other. A Turk seated in the shade smokes tranquilly; boys -run about and chase each other among the tombs; here and there cows -are grazing, and a multitude of turtle-doves bill and coo among the -branches of the cypress trees; groups of veiled women pass from time to -time; and through the leaves and branches glimpses are caught of the -blue waters of the Golden Horn streaked with long white reflections -from the minarets of Stambul. - - -PERA. - -Coming out of the cemetery, we passed once more close to the base of -the Galata Tower and took the principal street of Pera. Pera lies -more than three hundred feet above the level of the sea, is bright -and cheerful, and overlooks both the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus. -It is the “West End” of the European colony, the quarter where are -to be found the comforts and elegancies of life. The street which we -now followed is lined on both sides with English and French hotels, -cafés of the better sort, brilliantly lighted shops, theatres, foreign -consulates, clubs, and the residences of the various ambassadors, -among which towers the great stone palace of the Russian embassy, -commanding Galata, Pera, and the village of Fundukli on the shore of -the Bosphorus, for all the world like a fortress. - -The crowds which swarm and throng these streets are altogether unlike -those of Galata. Hardly any but stiff hats are to be seen, unless we -except the masses of flowers and feathers which adorn the heads of the -ladies: here are Greek, Italian, and French dandies, merchant princes, -officials of the various legations, foreign navy officers, ambassadors’ -equipages, and doubtful-looking physiognomies of every nationality. -Turkish men stand admiring the wax heads in the hairdressers’ windows, -and the women pause open-mouthed before the showcases of the milliners’ -shops. The Europeans talk and laugh more loudly here than elsewhere, -cracking jokes in the middle of the street, while the Turks, feeling -themselves, as it were, foreigners, carry their heads less high than in -the streets of Stambul. - -As we walked along my friend suddenly called my attention to the -view, behind us, of Stambul. Sure enough, there lay the Seraglio -hill, St. Sophia, and the minarets of the mosque of Sultan Ahmed, all -faintly veiled in blue mist--an altogether different world from the -one in which we stood. “And now,” said he, “look there!” Following -the direction of his finger, I read the titles of some of the books -displayed in the window of an adjacent stationer’s shop--_La Dame -aux Camelias_, _Madame Bovary_, _Mademoiselle Giraud ma Femme_--and -experienced so curious a sensation at the rapid and violent contrast -thus presented that for some moments I was obliged to stand quite still -in order to adjust my ideas. At another time I stopped my companion to -make him look in a wonderful café we were passing. It was a long, wide, -dim corridor, ending in a large open window, through which we beheld, -at what seemed to be an immense distance, Skutari flooded with sunlight. - -When we had proceeded for some distance along the Grande Rue de Pera -and nearly reached the end, we were startled by hearing a voice, -quite close at hand, exclaiming in tones of thunder, “Adèle, I love -thee! I love thee better than life itself! I love thee even as much -as it is given to men to love upon earth!” We gazed at one another in -astonishment. Where on earth did the voice come from? Looking about -us, we discovered on one side of the street a wooden fence through the -cracks of which a large garden could be seen filled with benches, and -at the farther end a stage on which a troupe of actors were rehearsing -the performance for the evening. A Turkish lady not far from us stood -peeping in as well, and laughed with great enjoyment at the scene, -while an old Turk, passing by, shook his head disapprovingly. Suddenly -with a loud shriek the lady fled down the street; other women in the -neighborhood echoed the shriek and turned their backs rapidly. What -could have happened? Turning around, we beheld a Turk about fifty years -old, well known throughout all Constantinople, who elected to go about -the streets clad with the same severe simplicity which the famous monk -Turi was so anxious to impose upon all good Mussulmen during the reign -of Muhammad IV.; that is, stark naked from head to foot. The wretched -creature advanced, leaping on the stones, shouting and breaking forth -into loud bursts of laughter, followed by a crowd of ragamuffins making -a noise like that of the infernal regions. “It is to be devoutly hoped -that he will be promptly arrested,” said I to the doorkeeper of the -theatre. “Not the smallest likelihood of anything of the sort,” replied -he; “he has been going about like that for months.” In the mean while I -could see people all the way down the street coming to the doors of the -shops, women getting out of the way, young girls covering their faces, -doors being shut, heads disappearing from the windows. And this thing -goes on every day, and no one so much as gives it a thought! - - * * * * * - -On issuing from the Grande Rue de Pera we find ourselves opposite -another large Mussulman cemetery shaded by groves of cypress trees and -enclosed between high walls. Had we not been informed later on of the -reason for those walls, we should certainly never have guessed it. They -had evidently been quite recently erected, to prevent, it would seem, -the woods consecrated to the repose of the dead from being converted -into a trysting-spot where the soldiers from the neighboring artillery -barracks were wont to meet their sweethearts. A little farther on we -came upon the barracks, a huge, solid, rectangular structure, built -by Shalil Pasha in the Moorish style of the Turkish Renaissance, its -great portal flanked by light columns and surmounted by the crescent -and golden star of Muhammad, and having balconies and small windows -ornamented with carving and arabesques. In front of the barracks -runs the Rue Dgiedessy, a continuation of the Grande Rue de Pera, on -the other side of which stretches an extensive parade-ground; beyond -that, again, are other suburbs. During the week this neighborhood -is buried in the most profound silence and solitude, but on Sunday -afternoons it is crowded with people and equipages, all the gay world -of Pera pouring out to scatter itself among the beer-gardens, cafés, -and pleasure-resorts which lie beyond the barracks. It was in one of -these cafés that we broke our fast--the café _Belle Vue_, a resort of -the flower of Pera society, and well deserving its name, since from -its immense gardens, extending like a terrace over the summit of the -hill, you have, spread out before you, the large Mussulman village of -Fundukli, the Bosphorus covered with ships, the coast of Asia dotted -over with gardens and villages, Skutari with her glistening white -mosques--a luxuriance of color, green foliage, blue sea, and sky all -bathed in light, which form a scene of intoxicating beauty. We arose -at last unwillingly, and both of us felt like niggards as we threw our -eight wretched sous on the counter, the bare price of a couple of cups -of coffee after having been treated to that celestial vision. - - -THE GREAT FIELD OF THE DEAD. - -Coming out of the Belle Vue, we found ourselves in the midst of the -Grand Champs des Morts, where the dead of every faith except the -Jewish are buried in distinct cemeteries. It is a vast, thick wood of -cypress, sycamore, and acacia trees, in whose shadow are thousands -of white tombstones, having the appearance, at a little distance, of -the ruins of some great building. In between the trunks of the trees -distant views are caught of the Bosphorus and the Asiatic coast. Broad -paths wind in and out among the graves, along which groups of Greeks -and Armenians may be seen passing to and fro. On some of the tombs -Turks are seated cross-legged, gazing fixedly at the Bosphorus. One -experiences the same delicious sense of refreshment and peace and rest, -as on entering a vast, dim cathedral on some hot summer’s day. - -We paused in the Armenian cemetery. The stones here are all large, -flat, and covered with inscriptions cut in the regular and elegant -characters of the Armenian language, and on almost every one there -is some figure to indicate the trade or occupation of the deceased. -There are hammers, chairs, pens, coffers, and necklaces; the banker is -represented by a pair of weights and scales, the priest by a mitre, -the barber has his basin, the surgeon a lancet. On one stone we saw a -head detached from the body, which was streaming with blood: it was -the grave of either a murdered man or else one who had been executed. -Alongside it was stretched an Armenian, sound asleep, with his head -thrown back. - -We passed on next to the Mussulman cemetery. Here were to be seen the -same multitude of little columns, either in rows or standing about in -irregular groups, some of them painted and gilded on top, those of the -women culminating in ornamental bunches of flowers carved in relief, -many of them surrounded with shrubs and flowering plants. As we stood -looking at one of them, two Turks, leading a child by the hand, passed -down the path to a tomb some little distance off, on reaching which -they paused, and, having spread out the contents of a package one of -them carried under his arm, they seated themselves on the tombstone -and began to eat. I stood watching them. When the meal was ended the -elder of the two wrapped what appeared to be a fish and a piece of -bread in a scrap of paper, and with a gesture of respect placed it in -a hole beside the grave. This having been done, they both lit their -pipes and fell to smoking tranquilly, while the child ran up and down -and played among the trees. It was explained to me later that the fish -and bread were that portion of their repast which Turks leave as a -sign of affection for relatives probably not long dead; the hole was -the small opening made in the ground near the head of every Mussulman -grave in order that the departed may hear the sobs and lamentations of -their dear ones left on earth, and occasionally receive a few drops of -rose-water or enjoy the scent of the flowers. Their mortuary smoke -concluded, the two pious Turks arose, and, taking the child once more -by the hand, disappeared among the cypress trees. - - -PANKALDI. - -On coming out of the cemetery we found ourselves in another Christian -quarter--Pankaldi--traversed by wide streets lined with new buildings -and surrounded by gardens, villas, hospitals, and large barracks. This -is the suburb of Constantinople farthest away from the sea. After -having seen which, we turned back to redescend to the Golden Horn. On -reaching the last street, however, we came unexpectedly upon a new -and strikingly solemn scene. It was a Greek funeral procession, which -advanced slowly toward us between a dense and perfectly silent crowd -of people packed together on either side of the street. Heading the -procession came a group of Greek priests in their long embroidered -garments; then the archimandrite wearing a crown upon his head and -a long cape embroidered in gold; behind him were a number of young -ecclesiastics clad in brilliant colors, and a group of friends and -relatives, all wearing their richest garments, and in their midst the -bier, covered with flowers, on which lay the body of a young girl of -about fifteen dressed in satin and resplendent with jewels. The face -was exposed--such a dear little face, white as snow, the mouth slightly -contracted as if in pain, and two long tresses of beautiful black -hair lying across the shoulders and breast. The bier passes, the crowd -closes in behind the procession, which is quickly lost to sight, and we -find ourselves standing, sobered and thoughtful, in the midst of the -deserted street. - - -SAN DMITRI. - -We now descended the hill, and, after crossing the dry bed of a -torrent and climbing up the ascent on the other side, found ourselves -in another suburb, San Dmitri. Here almost the entire population is -Greek. On every side may be seen black eyes and fine aquiline noses; -patriarchal-looking old men and slight, sinewy young ones; girls with -hair hanging down their backs, and bright intelligent-looking lads, -who disport themselves in the middle of the street among the chickens -and pigs, filling the air with their musical cries and harmonious -inflections. We approached a group of these boys who were engaged in -pelting one another with pebbles, all chattering at the same time. -One of them, about eight years old, the most impish-looking little -rascal of the lot, kept tossing his little fez in the air, every few -minutes calling out, “_Zito! zito!_” (Hurrah! hurrah!) Suddenly he -turned to another little chap seated on a doorstep near by, and cried, -“_Checchino! buttami la palla!_” (Checchino! throw me the ball). -Seizing him by the arm as though I were a gypsy kidnapper, I said, -“So you are an Italian?”--“Oh no, sir,” he answered; “I belong to -Constantinople.”--“Then who taught you to speak Italian?”--“Oh that?” -said he; “why, my mother”--“And where is your mother?” Just at that -moment, though, a woman carrying a baby in her arms approached, all -smiles, and explained to me that she was from Pisa, that she and her -husband, an engraver from Leghorn, had been in Constantinople for -eight years past, and that the boy was theirs. Had this good woman -had a handsome matronly face, a turretted crown upon her head, and a -long mantle floating majestically from her shoulders, she could not -have brought the image of Italy more forcibly before my eyes and mind. -“And how do you like living here?” I asked her. “What do you think of -Constantinople on the whole?”--“How can I tell?” said she, smiling -artlessly. “It seems to be like a city that--well, to tell you the -truth, I can never get it out of my head that it is the last day of -the Carnival;” and then, giving free rein to her Tuscan speech, she -explained to us that “_the Mussulman’s Christ is Mahomet_,” that a Turk -is allowed to marry four wives, that the Turkish language is admirable -for those who understand it, and various other pieces of equally -valuable information, but which, told in that language and amid those -strange surroundings, gave us more pleasure than the choicest bits of -news--so much so, indeed, that on parting we were fain to leave a small -monetary expression of our esteem in the hand of the little lad, and -exclaimed simultaneously as we walked off, “After all, there is nothing -that sets one up so as a mouthful of Italian now and then.” - - -TOTAOLA. - -Recrossing the little valley, we came to another Greek quarter, -Totaola, where our stomachs gave us a hint that this would be a -favorable moment in which to investigate the interior of one of those -innumerable restaurants of Constantinople, all of which, built on the -same plan, present the same extraordinary appearance. There is one -huge room, which might on occasion be turned into a theatre, lighted, -as a rule, only by the door through which you enter; around it runs -a high wooden gallery furnished with a balustrade. On one side is an -enormous stove at which a brigand in shirt-sleeves fries fish, bastes -the roast, mixes sauces, and devotes himself generally to the business -of shortening human life; at a counter on the other side another -forbidding-looking individual serves out red and white wine in glasses -with handles; in the middle and front of the apartment are low stools -without backs and little tables scarcely higher than the stools, -looking for all the world like cobblers’ benches. We entered with some -slight feeling of hesitation, not knowing whether the groups of Greeks -and Armenians of the lower orders already assembled might not evince -some disagreeable signs of curiosity; on the contrary, however, no one -deigned so much as to look at us. It is my belief that the population -of Constantinople is the least inquisitive of any on the face of the -globe. You must be the Sultan at least, or else promenade through the -streets without any clothes on, like the madman of Pera, for people to -show that they are so much as aware of your existence. Taking our seats -in a corner, we waited some time, but, as nothing happened, we finally -concluded that it must be the custom in Constantinopolitan restaurants -for every one to look out for himself. Advancing then boldly to the -stove, we each got a portion of the roast--Heaven only knows from what -quadruped--and then, providing ourselves with a glass apiece of the -resinous Tenedos wine, we returned to our corner, spread the repast out -on a table barely reaching to our knees, and, with a sidelong glance -at one another, fell to and consumed the sacrifice. After resignedly -settling the account we walked out in perfect silence, afraid on our -lives to open our lips for fear a bray or a bark should escape them, -and resumed our walk in the direction of the Golden Horn, somewhat -chastened in spirit. - -[Illustration: Panorama of the Arsenal and Golden Horn.] - - -KASSIM PASHA. - -A walk of ten minutes brought us once more into real Turkey, the great -Mussulman suburb of Kassim Pasha, a city in itself, filled with mosques -and dervishes’ monasteries, which, with its kitchen-gardens and -shaded grounds, covers an entire hill and valley, and, extending -all the way to the Golden Horn, includes all of the ancient bay of -Mandsacchio, from the cemetery of Galata quite to the promontory -which overlooks the Balata quarter on the other shore. From the -heights of Kassim Pasha a most exquisite view is to be had. Beneath, -on the water’s edge, stands the enormous arsenal of Tersâne; beyond -it extends for more than a mile a labyrinth of dry-docks, workshops, -open squares, storehouses, and barracks, skirting all that part of the -Golden Horn which serves as a port of war. The admiralty building, -airy and graceful, seeming to float upon the surface of the water, -stands out clearly against the dark-green background of the Galata -cemetery; in the harbor innumerable small steamboats and käiks, crowded -with people, shoot in and out among the stationary iron-clads and old -frigates of the Crimea; on the opposite bank lie Stambul, the aqueduct -of Valens, bearing aloft its mighty arches into the blue heavens above, -the great mosques of Muhammad and Suleiman, and innumerable houses -and minarets. In order to take in all the details of this scene we -seated ourselves in front of a Turkish café and sipped the fourth or -fifth of the dozen or more cups of coffee which, whether you wish to -or not, you are bound to imbibe in the course of every day of your -stay in Constantinople. This café was a very unpretending place, but, -like all such establishments--Turkish ones, that is--most original, -probably differing but little from those very first ones started in -the time of Suleiman the Great, or those others into which the fourth -Murad used to burst so unexpectedly, cimeter in hand, when he made his -nocturnal rounds for the purpose of wreaking summary vengeance upon -venders of the forbidden beverage. What numbers of imperial edicts, -theological disputes, and bloody quarrels has this “enemy of sleep and -fruitfulness,” as it has been termed by ulemas of the strict school, -“genius of dreams and quickener of the mind,” as the more liberal sects -have it, been the cause of! And now, after love and tobacco, it is the -most highly prized of all luxuries in the estimation of every poor -Osman. To-day coffee is drunk on the summits of the Galata and Serasker -towers; you find it on the steamboats, in the cemeteries, in the -barber-shops, the baths, the bazârs. In whatever part of Constantinople -you may happen to be, if you merely call out, “Café-gi!” without taking -the trouble to leave your seat, in three minutes a cup is steaming -before you. - - -THE CAFÉ. - -Our café was a large whitewashed room, with a wooden wainscoting five -or six feet high, and a low divan running around the four walls. In one -corner stood a stove at which a Turk with a hooked nose was making -coffee in little brass coffee-pots, from which he poured it into -tiny cups, adding the sugar himself: this is the universal custom in -Constantinople. The coffee is made fresh for every new-comer and handed -to him already sweetened, together with a glass of water, which the -Turk always drinks before approaching the cup to his lips. At one side -hung a small looking-glass, and beside it a rack filled with razors: -almost all the cafés in Constantinople are barber-shops as well, the -head of the establishment combining these duties with those of leech -and dentist, and operating upon his victims in the same apartment as -that in which his guests are drinking their coffee. On the opposite -wall hung another rack filled with crystal _narghilehs_, their long, -flexible tubes wound around like snakes, and terra-cotta pipes with -cherry-wood stems. Five Turks were seated on the divan thoughtfully -smoking their _narghilehs_, and in front of the door three others sat -upon very low straw-bottomed stools, their backs against the wall, -side by side, with pipes in their mouths; a youth belonging to the -establishment was engaged in shaving the head of a big, fat dervish -clad in a camel’s-hair tunic. No one looked up as we took our seats, no -one spoke, and, with the exception of the coffee-maker and the young -man, no one made the slightest movement of any sort. The gurgling -sound of the water in the _narghilehs_, something like the purring -of cats, was all that broke the profound stillness. Every one gazed -fixedly into vacancy, with faces absolutely devoid of all expression, -like an assembly of wax figures. How many just such scenes as this -have impressed themselves indelibly upon my mind! A wooden house, a -cross-legged Turk, broad shafts of light, an exquisite far-away view, -profound silence,--there you have Turkey. Every time I hear that word -pronounced these objects rise up before me in the same way that one -sees a canal and a windmill when any one mentions Holland. - - -PIALE PASHA. - -From there, skirting along the edge of a large Mussulman cemetery which -extends from the top of the Kassim Pasha hill to Tersâne, we proceeded -again in a northerly direction, and, descending into the valley, -reached the little district of Piale Pasha, almost buried in her trees -and gardens, and paused before the mosque from which the quarter -takes its name. It is white and surmounted by six graceful domes; the -courtyard is surrounded by arches supported on airy columns; there is -a charming minaret, and surrounding the whole a circle of enormous -cypress trees. At that hour all the neighboring houses were tightly -closed, the streets empty, and even the courtyard of the mosque itself -deserted; the drowsiness and heat of noonday brooded over everything, -and, except for the dull buzzing of the insects, not a sound was to be -heard. Looking at our watches, we found it wanted just three minutes to -twelve o’clock, one of the Mussulman’s five canonical hours, at which -the _muezzin_, appearing upon the gallery of every minaret, announces -to the four quarters of the globe the religious formula of Islam. We -were perfectly well aware that in all Constantinople there is not a -minaret upon which, punctual as clockwork, the messenger of the Prophet -does not appear at his appointed hour; at the same time we could hardly -bring ourselves to believe that in that farthest outpost of the immense -city, on that solitary, out-of-the-way mosque as well, and amid that -profound silence and apparent desertion, the figure would rise up, -the message be delivered. Watch in hand, I stood waiting with lively -curiosity the stroke of the hour, glancing now at the minute-hand, now -at the small doorway opening out on the gallery of the minaret, about -as high from the ground as the fourth story of an ordinary house. -Presently the minute-hand reaches the sixtieth little black speck: -no one appeared. “He is not there,” said I.--“There he is,” replied -Yunk; and, true enough, there he stood. The balustrade of the gallery -concealed all his person but the face, of which the distance was too -great to distinguish the features clearly. For a few seconds he stood -perfectly motionless: then, closing both ears with his fingers and -raising his face toward heaven, he chanted slowly, in high, piercing -accents, solemnly, mournfully, the sacred words which at the same -moment were resounding from every minaret in Africa, Asia, and Europe: -“God is great! there is but one God! Mahomet is his Prophet! Come to -prayer! come and be saved! God is great! there is none other! Come to -prayer!” Then, proceeding a part of the way around the balcony, he -repeated the same words toward the north, then to the west, and then to -the east, and finally disappeared as he had come. At the same instant -we caught the faint far-away tones of a similar voice in the distance, -sounding like some one calling for help. Then all was still, and we -two were left standing motionless and silent, with a vague feeling of -hopelessness, as though those two voices had been addressed solely to -us, calling upon us to fall down and pray, and with the disappearance -of the vision we had been left alone in that still valley, like beings -abandoned by God and man. No tolling or chime of bells has ever -appealed to me so strongly, and I then understood for the first time -why it was that Mahomet decided in favor of the human voice as a means -of summoning the faithful to their devotions, rather than the ancient -trumpet of the Israelites or tymbal of the Christians. He hesitated for -some time before making up his mind, so that the entire Orient narrowly -escaped wearing an aspect totally different from that of the present -day. Had he selected the tymbal, which must inevitably have become a -bell later on, it is very certain that the minaret would have gone, and -with it would have disappeared for ever one of the most charming and -distinctive features of both town and country in the East. - - -OK-MEIDAN. - -Mounting the hill to the west of Piale Pasha, we reached a vast open -plain from which there is a view of Stambul and the entire length of -the Golden Horn from Eyûb to Seraglio Point, four miles of mosque and -garden--a scene so overpoweringly beautiful that one is tempted to -fall upon his knees as before some heavenly vision. On the Ok-Meidan -(Place of Arrows) the sultans used formerly to practise shooting with -the bow and arrow, after the custom of the Persian kings. A number -of small stone obelisks and pillars scattered about irregularly bear -inscriptions each to the effect that upon that spot some imperial arrow -has fallen. The beautiful kiosk is still standing from whose tribune -the sultan was wont to draw his bow; on the right were drawn up a -long line of pashas and beys, living exclamation-points indicative of -the admiration excited by their lord’s dexterity; to the left stood -a group of twelve pages belonging to the imperial family, whose duty -it was to run after and pick up the arrows, marking the spots on -which they fell; hidden behind the surrounding trees and shrubbery -a few venturesome Turks peeped out who had stolen thither to gaze -fearfully upon the sublime countenance of the vicar of God; while in -the tribune, in the attitude of some haughty athlete, stood the sultan -Mahmûd, the mightiest archer of the empire, his flashing eye compelling -the bystanders to avert their gaze, and that famous beard, black as -the raven’s feathers of Mt. Taurus, gleaming afar against the white -tunic all spotted with the blood of the Janissaries. All this has now -changed and become utterly commonplace. The Sultan practises with a -revolver in the courtyard of his palace, while Ok-Meidan is used by the -infantry for target-practice. On one side stands a dervish monastery, -on the other a solitary café, and the whole place is as melancholy and -deserted as a steppe. - - -PIRI PASHA. - -Descending from the Ok-Meidan toward the Golden Horn, we came to -another little Mussulman quarter called Piri Pasha, possibly after the -famous vizier of the time of the first Selim, who educated Suleiman the -Magnificent. Piri Pasha faces the Jewish quarter of Balata, situated -on the opposite bank of the Golden Horn. We met nothing as we passed -through it except a few dogs and occasionally an old Turkish beggar; we -did not regret this, however, as it gave us an opportunity to examine -its construction at our leisure. It is a very curious fact that on -entering any quarter of Constantinople, after having seen it from the -water or some adjacent height, you invariably experience precisely the -same shock of astonishment as on going behind the scenes of a theatre -after having witnessed some beautiful spectacular effect from the -stalls. You are filled with amazement to find that the combination of -all these mean and ugly objects is what has just produced so charming -a whole. I suppose there is no other city in the world whose beauty is -so entirely dependent on general effect as Constantinople. Seen from -Balata, Piri Pasha is the prettiest little village imaginable, smiling, -radiant with color, decked with foliage, its charming image reflected -in the Golden Horn like the features of some beautiful nymph, awakening -dreams of love and pleasure in the breast. Enter it and the whole thing -changes: you find nothing but rude, mean little houses colored like -booths at a country fair, filthy courts looking like witches’ dens, -groups of dusty fig and cypress trees, gardens littered with rubbish, -narrow, deserted streets--dirt, misery, wretchedness. But run down the -hillside, jump into a käik, and give half a dozen strokes with the -oars, behold! the fairy city has reappeared, beautiful and fascinating -as before. - - -HASKEUI. - -Continuing along the shore of the Golden Horn, we descended into -another suburb, vast, populous, wearing an entirely different aspect -from the last, and where we saw quite plainly, after taking half a -dozen steps, that we were no longer among Mussulmans. On all sides -dirty children covered with sores were rolling about on the ground; -bent, ragged old crones sat working with their skinny fingers in the -doorways, through which glimpses could be caught of dusky interiors -cluttered up with heaps of old iron and rags; men clad in long, dirty -cloaks, with tattered handkerchiefs wound around their heads, skulked -along close to the wall, glancing furtively about them; thin, meagre -faces peered out of the windows as we went by; old clothes dangled from -cords suspended between the houses; mud and litter everywhere. It was -Haskeui, the Jewish quarter, the Ghetto of the northern shore of the -Golden Horn, facing that on the other shore, with which, at the time -of the Crimean War, it was connected by a wooden bridge, all traces of -which have since disappeared. From here stretches another long chain -of arsenals, military schools, barracks, and drill-grounds, extending -nearly all the way to the end of the Golden Horn. But of these we -saw nothing, our heads and our legs having given out equally. Of all -that we had seen, there only remained a confused jumble of places and -people; it seemed as though we had been travelling for a week, and we -thought of far-away Pera with a slight sensation of home-sickness. At -this point we should certainly have turned back had not our solemn -compact made upon the bridge come into our minds, and Yunk, according -to his helpful custom, revived my drooping spirits by chanting the -grand march from _Aida_. - - -KALIJI OGHLU. - -Forward, then! Traversing another Turkish cemetery and climbing -still another hill, we found ourselves in the suburb of Kaliji -Oghlu, inhabited by a mixed population. In this little city, at -every street-corner, you come upon a new race or a new religion. You -mount, descend, climb up, pass among tombs and mosques, churches and -synagogues. You skirt gardens and cemeteries, encounter handsome -Armenian women with fine matronly figures, slender Turkish ones who -steal a look at you through their veils; all around you hear Greek, -Armenian, Spanish--the Spanish of the Jews--and you walk on and on and -on. “After all, you know,” we say to one another, “Constantinople must -end somewhere.” Everything on earth has an end. We have been told so -ever since we were children. On and on and on, and now the houses of -Kaliji Oghlu grow fewer, woods begin to appear; there is but one more -group of dwellings. Quickening our pace, we passed them by, and at last -reached-- - - -SUDLUDJI. - -Merciful Heavens! what did we reach? Nothing in the world but another -suburb, the Christian settlement of Sudludji, built on a hill -surrounded by woods and cemeteries, the same hill at whose base was -formerly one end of the only bridge which in ancient times connected -the two banks of the Golden Horn. But this suburb, by a merciful -providence, was actually the last, and our excursion had finally come -to an end. Quitting the houses, we cast about us for some spot where -we might seek a little much-needed repose. Back of the village there -rises a bare, steep ascent, up which dragging our weary limbs, we -found before us the largest Jewish cemetery in Constantinople. It is a -vast open space, filled with innumerable flat gravestones, presenting -the desolate appearance of a city destroyed by an earthquake, and -unrelieved by a tree or flower or blade of grass, or even so much as -a footpath--a desert solitude as depressing to look upon as the scene -of some great disaster. Seating ourselves upon one of the tombs, we -turned in the direction of the Golden Horn, and while resting our tired -bodies feasted our eyes upon the superb panorama which lay spread out -before us. At our feet lay Sudludji, Kaliji Oghlu, Haskeui, Piri Pasha, -a chain of picturesque villages set in the midst of green gardens and -cemeteries and blue water; to the left, the solitary Ok-Meidan and the -hundred minarets of Kassim Pasha, and farther on the huge, indistinct -outlines of Stambul; beyond, fading away into the distant sky, the blue -line of the mountains of Asia; directly facing us on the opposite shore -of the Golden Horn lay the mysterious quarter of Eyûb, whose gorgeous -mausoleums, marble mosques, deserted streets, and shady inclines, -dotted with tombstones, could be clearly distinguished from where we -sat, rural-looking solitudes full of a melancholy charm; to the right -of Eyûb lay still other villages covering the hillsides and peeping -at their own reflections in the water; and then the final bend of the -Golden Horn, lost to view between two lofty banks covered with trees -and flowers. - -Half asleep, exhausted in mind and body, we sat there, allowing our -eyes to wander at will over the whole exquisite scene; put all we had -done and seen to music, and chanted antiphonally a rigmarole of I don’t -know what nonsense; discussed the history of the dead man upon whose -tomb we were sitting; poked into an ant-hill with bits of straw; talked -of all manner of foolish and irrelevant things; asked ourselves from -time to time if it were really true that we were in Constantinople; -reflected upon the shortness of life and vanity of all human desires, -at the same time drawing in deep breaths of pleasure and delight; but -away down in the bottom of our secret souls we each realized through -it all that nothing on earth, no matter how charming and beautiful it -may be, can quite satisfy a man, provided he does not while enjoying it -feel in his the hand of the woman he loves. - - -IN A KAIK. - -Toward sunset we descended to the Golden Horn, and, taking our places -in a four-oared käik, had scarcely pronounced the word “Galata!” before -the graceful little boat was already in mid-stream. Of all varieties of -boats which skim over the surface of the water, there is certainly none -so delightful as the käik. Longer than the gondola, but narrower and -lighter, carved, painted, and gilded, it is without seats or rudder; -you sit in the bottom upon a cushion or bit of carpet, only your head -and shoulders visible above the sides; both ends are shaped alike, so -that it can be propelled in either direction, and it is easily upset -by any sudden movement. Shooting out from the shore like an arrow from -the bow, it seems to fly like a swallow, barely touching the water; -overtakes and passes all other craft, and disappears in the distance, -its bright and varied colors reflected in the waves like a dolphin -flying from its pursuer. Our oarsmen were a couple of good-looking -young Turks dressed in white trousers, light blue shirts, and red -fezzes, with bare arms and legs--a pair of lusty athletes of twenty -or so, bronzed, clean, cheerful, and frank. At each stroke the boat -bounds forward its whole length. Other käiks fly by, hardly seen before -they are lost sight of; we pass flocks of ducks; large covered barges -filled with veiled women; clouds of birds circle over our heads; from -time to time the tall sea-grass shuts out everything from view. - -Seen thus from the other end of the Golden Horn and at that hour, the -city presents an entirely new aspect. The Asiatic coast, owing to the -bend of the shore, is entirely hidden, Seraglio Point shutting in the -Golden Horn as though it were a great lake. The hills on either bank -seem to have grown larger, and Stambul, far, far away, is a blending -of delicate blues and grays, huge and indistinct. Like an enchanted -city, it seems to float upon the water and lose itself among the -clouds. The käik flies on; the two banks recede, inlet after inlet, -grove after grove, suburb after suburb; our surroundings widen out. -The colors of the city grow dim, the horizon seems to be on fire, the -water is full of purple and gold reflections; on and on, until at last -a profound lethargy steals over us, a sense of boundless content, in -which we remain silent and happy, until finally the boatman is obliged -to call in our ears, “_Monsù! arrivar!_” before we can arouse ourselves -sufficiently to know where we are. - - - - -THE GREAT BAZÂR. - - -After giving a superficial glance over all of Constantinople, including -both banks of the Golden Horn, it seemed now time to penetrate into -the heart of Stambul, to explore that world-embracing, perpetual fair, -that hidden city, dim, mysterious, crammed with associations, wonders, -and treasures, which, extending from the Nùri Osmaniyeh to the Serasker -hill, is called The Great Bazâr. - -We will start from the square in front of the Validêh Sultan mosque. -Here the epicurean reader may like possibly to pause long enough to -inspect the Baluk Bazâr, that fish-market famous ever since the days -of thrifty old Andronicus Palæologus, who, we are told, met the entire -culinary expenses of his court with the profits made from fish caught -only along the walls of the city, where, indeed, they are still most -plentiful, and, seen on one of its principal days, the Baluk Bazâr -would afford as succulent and tempting a subject for the author of the -_Ventre de Paris_ as one of those well-covered tables one sees in old -Dutch pictures. The venders, almost without exception Turks, are drawn -up all around the square behind their fish, which are spread out on -mats stretched upon the ground or else on long tables, around which -a crowd of customers and an army of dogs fight for precedence. Here -may be found the delicious mullet of the Bosphorus, four times the -size it attains to in our waters; oysters from the island of Marmora, -which the Greeks and Armenians alone understand how to cook properly, -broiling them on the live coals; sprats and tunnies, the salting of -which is an industry confined almost entirely to the Jews; anchovies, -which the Turks have learned how to put up in the Marseillaise fashion; -sardines, with which Constantinople provides the entire Archipelago; -the _loufer_, that most delicious of all the Bosphorus fish, which is -caught by moonlight; mackerel from the Black Sea, which make seven -invasions successively into the waters of the city, accompanied by a -noise so loud that it can be heard in the towns on both shores; the -colossal _isdaurid_; enormous sword-fish; turbots, or, as they are -called by the Turks, _kalkau-baluk_; shellfish, and a thousand and -one other varieties of the smaller kinds of fish which dart and frisk -about from one to the other of the two seas, chased by dolphins and -_falianos_, and preyed upon by innumerable kingfishers, from whose very -mouths the booty is often snatched by the _piombini_. - -Cooks from great houses, old Mussulman bons-vivants, slaves, and young -employés from the various restaurants surround the tables, examine -the fish with a meditative air, bargain in monosyllables, and walk -off, each carrying his purchase suspended by a bit of twine, grave, -taciturn, self-contained as though it were the head of an enemy. By -mid-day the square is deserted and the venders have repaired to the -various cafés in the neighborhood, where they will sit with their backs -against the wall and the mouthpiece of a narghileh between their lips, -in a sort of waking sleep, until sunset. - -To reach the Great Bazâr we take a street opening out of the -fish-market, so narrow that the projecting parts of the opposite houses -almost touch one another; on either side are rows of low, ill-lighted -tobacconist shops, that “fourth support of the tent of voluptuousness,” -coming after coffee, opium, and wine, or “the fourth of pleasure’s -couches,” as it is sometimes called. Like coffee, tobacco has been -blasted by imperial edicts and denounced by the _mufti_, with the -usual result of adding fresh zest to its use and making it a fruitful -source of tumult and punishment; and now this entire street is devoted -to traffic in it alone. The tobacco is displayed upon long shelves in -pyramids and round piles, each one surmounted by a lemon. All kinds -are to be found here: _latakia_ from Antioch; Seraglio tobacco as fine -and smooth as spun silk; tobacco for pipe and cigarette of every grade -of strength and flavor, from that smoked by the gigantic porter of -Galata to that used by the indolent _odalisques_ of the Seraglio to -put them to sleep. There is the _tombeki_, so powerful that it would -set the head of even a veteran smoker spinning did its fumes not reach -his mouth first purified by the water of the narghileh, and which -is kept in glass jars like a drug. The tobacconists are all Greeks -or Armenians, with ceremonious manners, somewhat inclined to give -themselves airs. The customers assemble before the shops in groups. -Many of them are employés of the various foreign ambassadors or of the -Seraskerat, and occasionally one sees some personage of importance. It -is a great place for gossip of all kinds; politics are discussed; the -doings of the great world talked over; and merely to walk through this -little, retired, aristocratic bazâr leaves a strong impression upon -one’s mind of the joys to be obtained from conversation _and_ tobacco. - -We now pass beneath an old arched doorway festooned with vines, and -come out opposite a large stone edifice, from which opens a long, -straight, covered street lined with dimly-lighted shops and filled -with people, packing-boxes, and heaps of merchandise. Entering this, -we are immediately assailed by an odor so powerful as to fairly knock -one down: this is the Egyptian Bazâr, where are deposited all the wares -of India, Syria, Egypt, and Arabia, which later on, converted into -essences, pastilles, powders, and ointments, serve to color little -hands and faces, perfume apartments and baths and breaths and beards, -reinvigorate worn-out pashas, dull the senses of unhappy married -people, stupefy smokers, and spread dreams, oblivion, and insensibility -throughout the whole of the vast city. After going but a short distance -in this bazâr your head begins to feel dull and heavy, and you get out -of it as fast as you can; but the effect of that hot, close atmosphere -and those penetrating odors clings long to your clothing, and remains -for all time in your memory as one of the most vivid and characteristic -impressions of the East. - -After escaping from the Egyptian Bazâr you pass among a crowd of noisy -coppersmiths’ shops, Turkish restaurants, from which issue endless -nauseous smells, and all manner of wretched booths, shops, and stands, -dark little dens containing trash of all sorts, and finally come to -the Great Bazâr itself, not, however, before you have been obliged to -defend yourself from a vigorous attack. - -About a hundred feet from the main entrance there lie in ambush like so -many cutthroats the agents or middlemen of the merchants and the agents -of the agents. These fellows are so well up in their business that at a -single glance they learn not only that this is your first visit to the -bazâr, but usually make so clever a guess as to your nationality that -they rarely make a mistake in the language which they first address you -in. - -Approaching, fez in hand, they proceed, with an engaging smile, to -offer their services. - -There usually then follows a conversation something like this: the -traveller, declining the proffered service, remarks, - -“I do not propose to make any purchases.” - -“Oh, sir, what difference does that make? I only want to show you the -bazâr.” - -“I don’t care to see the bazâr.” - -“But I will escort you gratis.” - -“I don’t wish to be escorted gratis.” - -“Very well; then I will just go to the end of the street with you, -merely to give you certain points, which you will find very useful some -other day when you come to buy.” - -“But suppose I don’t want to even hear you talk about buying?” - -“Very well, then, let us talk about something else. How long have you -been in Constantinople? Is your hotel comfortable? Have you gotten -permits to visit the mosques?” - -“But when I tell you that I don’t want to talk about anything--that I -wish, in short, to be alone--” - -“All right; then I will leave you alone, and follow a dozen steps -behind you.” - -“But why should you follow me at all?” - -“Merely to prevent you from being cheated in the shops.” - -“But I tell you I am not going into the shops.” - -“Well, then, to save you from annoyance on the street.” - -And so you must finally either pause to take breath and collect your -ideas, or else yield and allow him to accompany you. - -There is nothing about the exterior of the Great Bazâr to either -attract the eye or give the faintest idea of what it is within. It is -an immense stone edifice in the Byzantine style, irregular in form and -surrounded by high gray walls, lighted by means of hundreds of small -lead-covered domes in the roof. The principal entrance is through a -high, vaulted doorway of no architectural pretensions. Outside, in the -neighboring streets, no sounds can be heard of what is going on within, -and half a dozen steps away from the entrance one might easily believe -that only silence and solitude reigned within those prison-like walls; -once inside, however, this delusion is quickly dispelled. You find -yourself not in a building at all, but in a labyrinth of streets with -vaulted roofs, lined with columns and carved pilasters--a veritable -city, with mosques and fountains, thoroughfares and open squares, -pervaded with the dim, subdued light of the forest, where no ray or -gleam of sunshine ever penetrates, and thronged with immense crowds of -people. Every street is a bazâr, generally leading out of the principal -thoroughfare--a street covered by a roof composed of white and black -stone arches and decorated with arabesques like the nave of a mosque. -Processions of horses, camels, and carriages pass up and down the -dimly-lighted streets, in the midst of the throng of foot-passengers, -with a deafening, reverberating noise. On all sides attempts are being -made by word and gesture to attract your attention. The Greek merchant -hails you with loud, imperious voice, while his Armenian rival, by -far the greater knave of the two, assumes a modest, retiring manner, -addressing you in soft, obsequious tones; the Jew murmurs gently in -your ear; while the Turk, silent and reserved as ever, squats on a -cushion in his doorway and contents himself with addressing you solely -with his eye, leaving the results to Fate. Ten voices appeal to you at -once: “Monsieur! captain! caballero! signore! eccelenza! kyrie! milor!” -Down every cross-street you catch glimpses of new vistas, long lines of -columns and pilasters, corridors, other streets opening out of these -again, arcades and galleries, confused far-off views of new bazârs, -shops, merchandise suspended on the walls and from the roofs, bustling -merchants, heavily-laden porters, figures of veiled women, noisy -groups, which constantly form, dissolve, and form again--a mingling of -sights, sounds, colors, and movement to set one’s head in a whirl. The -confusion, however, is only apparent: in reality, this enormous mart is -arranged with as much system and order as a barracks, and it takes but -a few hours for one to become sufficiently at home in it to find -his way to any object without difficulty or the help of a dragoman. -Every separate kind of merchandise has its own especial quarter, -its little street, corridor, and square; there are a hundred small -bazârs opening one into another like the rooms in some vast suite of -apartments, and each bazâr is at the same time a museum, a promenade, -a market, and a theatre, in which you can look at all without buying -anything, can drink your cup of coffee, enjoy the open air, chat in a -dozen different languages, and make eyes at the prettiest girls to be -found in the East. - -[Illustration: Date Seller.] - -Dropping at random into any one of these bazârs, half a day goes by -without your so much as knowing it: take, for instance, the bazâr -of stuffs and costumes. Here are displayed such a dazzling array of -beautiful and rare objects that you at once lose your head, to say -nothing of your purse, and the chances are that, should you in any -unguarded moment be tempted to satisfy some small caprice, you will end -by having to telegraph home for assistance. You pass between pyramids -and heaps of Bagdad brocades; rugs from Caramania; Brusa silks; India -linens; muslins from Bengal; shawls from Madras; Indian and Persian -cashmeres: the variegated fabrics of Cairo; gold-embroidered cushions; -silken veils striped with silver; striped blue and red gauze scarfs, -so light and transparent as to look like clouds; stuffs of every -variety of color and design, in which blue and green, crimson and -yellow, all the colors which disagree most violently, are combined and -blended together in a harmony so perfect and exquisite that you can -only gaze in open-mouthed admiration; table-covers of all sizes upon -whose background of red or white cloth are outlined intricate silken -designs of flowers, verses from the Koran, and imperial monograms, -which it would take a day to examine, like a wall in the Alhambra. -Here one has as good an opportunity to see and admire, one by one, -each of the various articles which go to make up the costume of a -Turkish lady as though it were the alcove of a harem, from the green -or orange or purple mantles which are thrown over everything in public -down to the silken chemise, gold-embroidered kerchief, and even the -satin girdle upon which no eye of man other than that of the husband -or eunuch is ever allowed to fall. Here may be seen red-velvet caftans -edged with ermine and covered with stars; yellow satin bodices; -trousers of rose-colored silk; white damask undervests thickly covered -with gold flowers; wedding veils sparkling with silver spangles; -little greencloth jackets edged with swan’s down; Greek, Armenian, -Circassian costumes of a thousand fantastic shapes, so thickly covered -with ornamentation as to be as hard and glittering as breastplates; -and mixed in with all this magnificence the sombre, commonplace, -serviceable stuffs of England and France, producing much the same -effect upon the mind as would the sight of a tailor’s bill introduced -into the pages of a volume of poems. If there is a woman anywhere in -the world whom you care for, you cannot walk through this bazâr without -longing to be a millionaire or else feeling the passion for plunder -blaze up within you, if only for a moment. - -To free yourself from these unhallowed desires you have but turn a -little to one side and you find yourself in the pipe-bazâr, where the -soul is gently conducted back to more tranquil pastures. Here you come -upon collections of cherry, maple, rosewood, and jessamine pipes, and -of yellow amber mouth-pieces from the Baltic Sea, polished until they -shine like crystal, and of every grade of color and transparency, some -of them set with diamonds or rubies; pipes from Cæsarea, their stems -wrapped with silk and gold thread; tobacco-pouches from Lybia decorated -with many-colored lozenges and gorgeous embroidery; silver, steel, and -Bohemian glass narghilehs of exquisite antique shapes, engraved and -chased and studded with precious stones, their morocco tubes glittering -with rings and gilding, all wrapped in raw cotton and under the -constant surveillance of two glittering eyes whose gaze never wavers; -but let any one short of a vizier or a pasha who has spent years in -bleeding some province of Asia Minor approach, and the pupils dilate -in such a manner as to cause the modest inquiry as to the price to -die away upon one’s lips. Here the purchaser must be some envoy of the -sultana anxious to present a slight token of her appreciation to the -pliable grand vizier; or a high court dignitary, who on assuming the -cares of his new office is obliged, in order to maintain his dignity, -to expend the sum of fifty thousand francs upon a rack of pipes; or a -newly-appointed foreign ambassador who on departing for some European -court wishes to take to its royal master a magnificent memento of -Stambul. The Turk of modest means gazes mournfully upon these treasures -and passes by on the other side, paraphrasing for his consolation that -saying of the Prophet, “The flames of the infernal regions shall rage -like the bellowing of the camel in the stomach of him who shall _smoke -a pipe_ of gold or silver.” - -Passing from here into the perfumery bazâr, we once more find ourselves -beset with temptations. It is one of the most distinctively Oriental -in character of all the bazârs, and its wares were very dear to the -heart of the Prophet, who classes together women, children, and -perfumes as the three things which gave him the greatest pleasure. -Here are to be had those famous Seraglio pastilles designed to perfume -kisses; packages of the scented gum prepared by the hardy daughters -of Chio to be used in strengthening the gums of delicate Mussulman -women; exquisite essence of jessamine and of bergamont and powerful -attar of roses, enclosed in red-velvet, gold-embroidered cases, and -sold at prices that make one’s hair stand on end; here can be bought -ointment for the eyebrows, antimony for the eyes, henne for the nails, -soap to soften the Syrian beauty’s skin, and pills to prevent hair -from growing on the face of the too masculine Circassian; cedar and -orange-water, scent-bags of musk, sandal oil, ambergris, aloes to -perfume cups and pipes--a myriad of different powders, pomatums, and -waters with fanciful names and destined to uses undreamed of in the -prosaic West, each one representing in itself some amorous fancy or -seductive caprice, the very refinement of voluptuousness, and exhaling, -all together, an odor at once penetrating and sensual, and dreamily -suggestive of great languid eyes, soft caressing hands, and the subdued -murmur of sighs and embraces. - -These fancies are quickly dispelled on turning into the jewelry bazâr, -a narrow, dark, deserted street, flanked by wretched-looking little -shops, the last places on earth where one would expect to find the -fabulous treasures which, as a matter of fact, they do contain. The -jewels are kept in oaken coffers, hooped and bound with iron, which -stand in the front of the shops under the ever-watchful gaze of the -merchant, some old Turk or Hebrew with long beard, and piercing eyes -which seem to penetrate into the very recesses of your pocket and -examine the contents of your purse; occasionally one or another of -them, standing erect before his door, as you pass close by first -regards you fixedly in the eye, and then with a rapid movement flashes -before your face a diamond of Golconda, a sapphire from Ormus, or a -ruby of Gramschid, which at the slightest negative movement on your -part is as quickly withdrawn from sight. Others, circulating slowly -about, stop you in the middle of the street, and, after casting a -suspicious glance all around, draw forth from their bosoms a dirty bit -of rag in whose folds is hidden a fine Brazilian topaz or Macedonian -turquoise, watching like some tempting demon to see its effect upon -you. Others, again, after scrutinizing you closely, come to the -conclusion that you have not the precious-stones look, as it were, and -do not trouble themselves to offer you anything, and you may wear the -face of a saint or the airs of a Crœsus, and it will not avail to open -those oaken boxes. The opal necklaces, emerald stars and pendants, -the coronets and crescents of pearls of Ophir, the dazzling heaps of -beryls, agates, garnets, of crystals, aventurine, and lapis lazuli -remain inexorably hidden from the eyes of the curious, provided he has -no money, or, at all events, from those of a poor devil of an Italian -writer. The utmost such an one can accomplish is to ask the price of -a coral or sandal-wood or amber _tespi_ which he runs through his -fingers, as the Turk does, to pass away the time in the intervals of -his forced labors. - -If you want to be really amused, though, just go into the Frankish -shops, those which deal in everything, and where there are goods to -suit all pockets. Hardly has your foot crossed the threshold before -a crowd of people spring up from you don’t know where, and in an -instant you are surrounded. It is out of the question to transact -your business with one single person. What between the merchant -himself, his partners, his agents, and the various hangers-on of the -establishment, you never have to do with less than a half dozen at -least. If you escape being floored by one, you are, so to speak, strung -up by another. There is no way by which final defeat can be warded -off. Words fail to describe their patience, art, and persistency, -the diabolical subterfuges to which they resort in order to force -you to buy what they choose. Finding everything put at an exorbitant -price, you offer a third, upon which they drop their arms in sign of -profound discouragement or beat their foreheads in dumb despair, or -else they burst into an impassioned torrent of appeal and expostulation -calculated to touch your feelings as a man and a brother. You are hard -and cruel; you are evidently determined to force them to close their -shops; your object is to reduce them to misery and want; you have no -compassion for their innocent children; they wonder plaintively what -injury they could ever have done you that you should be so bent upon -their ruin. While you are being told the price of an article an agent -from a neighboring shop hisses in your ear, “Don’t buy it; you are -being cheated.” Taking this for a piece of honest advice, you soon -discover that there is an understanding between him and the shopkeeper; -the information that you are being imposed upon in the matter of a -shawl is only given in order to fleece you far worse in the purchase -of a hanging. While you are examining the various articles they talk -in broken sentences among themselves, gesticulating, striking their -breasts, casting looks full of dark meaning. If you understand Greek, -the conversation is in Turkish; if you are familiar with that, it is in -Armenian; if you show any knowledge of Armenian, they employ Spanish; -but whatever language is adopted, they know enough of it to cheat you. -If after some time you still preserve an unbroken front, they begin -stroking you down--tell you how beautifully you talk their tongue; that -you have all the air and manner of a real gentleman; that they will -never be able to forget your attractive face. They talk of the land of -your birth, where they have passed so many happy years. They have, in -fact, been everywhere. Then they make you a cup of fresh coffee and -offer to accompany you to the custom-house when you leave in order to -interpose between you and the overbearing authorities; which means, -being interpreted, in order to secure a final opportunity for cheating -you and your fellow-travellers, in case you may have any. They turn -their whole shop upside down for you, and should you finally leave -without having bought anything, you get no black looks, as they have a -sustaining conviction that the harvest is only deferred; if not to-day, -then some other day: you are certain to return to the bazâr, when their -bloodhounds will scent you out, and should you escape falling into -their clutches, you will undoubtedly be caught in the toils of one of -their associates; if they do not fleece you as shopkeepers, they will -flay you as agents; if they fail to overreach you in the bazâr, they -will get the better of you at the custom-house. Of what nationality -are these men? No one knows: by dint of having a smattering of so many -different languages they have lost their original accent, and the -constant habit of acting a part has ended by altering the natural lines -of their faces to such a degree as to efface their national traits. -They belong to any race you choose, and their profession is whatever -you may have need of at the moment--shopkeeper, guide, interpreter, -money-lender, and, above all, past master in the art of gulling the -universe. - -The Mussulman shopkeepers present an altogether different field -of observation. Among them may still be found examples of those -venerable Turks, rarely enough to be seen now-a-days in the streets -of Constantinople, who look like living representatives of the days -of the Muhammads and Bayezids, remnants left intact of that mighty -Ottoman edifice whose walls received their first rude shock in the -reforms of Mahmûd, and which since then, year by year, stone by stone, -have been crumbling into ruins. One must now go to the Great Bazâr -and search in the dimmest shops of the most obscure streets to behold -those enormous turbans of the time of Suleiman, shaped like the dome -of a mosque, and beneath them the impressive face, the expressionless -eye, hooked nose, long white beard, antique purple or orange caftan, -full, plaited trousers confined about the waist by a huge sash, and -the haughty and melancholy bearing of a once all-powerful people. With -expressions dulled by opium or lighted up with the fire of fanaticism, -they sit all day in the backs of their dens with crossed legs and -folded arms, calm and unmoved like idols, awaiting with closed lips -the predestined purchaser. If business is brisk, they murmur, “_Mach -Allah!_” (God be praised!); if dull, “_Ol-sun!_” (So be it!), and bow -their heads resignedly. Some employ their time in reading the Koran; -others run the beads of the _tespi_ through their fingers, murmuring -under their breath the hundred epithets of Allah; others, whose affairs -have prospered, _drink their narghilehs_, as the Turks express it, -slowly revolving around them their sleepy, voluptuous-looking eyes; -others sit with drooping lids and bent brow in an attitude of profound -meditation. Of what are they thinking? Possibly of their sons killed -beneath the walls of Sebastopol, of their far-off caravans, of the -lost pleasures of youth, or possibly of the eternal gardens promised -by the Prophet, where, in the shade of the palm and the pomegranate, -they will espouse those dark-eyed brides never yet profaned by mortal -or geni. There is about each individual one of them something striking -and original, and all are picturesque. The shop forms a framework for -a picture full of color and suggestion; one’s mind is instantly filled -with images taken from history or what is known of the domestic life -of this strange people. This spare, bronzed man with a bold, alert -expression is an Arab; he has led his train of camels laden with gems -and alabaster from the interior of his far-off country, and more than -once has felt the balls of the robbers of the desert whiz past him. -This one in the yellow turban, bearing himself with an air of command, -has crossed the solitudes of Syria on horseback, carrying with him -treasures of silk from Tyre and Sidon. Yonder negro, with his head -enveloped in an old Persian shawl, is from Nubia; his forehead is -covered with scars made by magicians to preserve him from death, and he -holds his head aloft as though still beholding before him the Colossus -of Thebes or summits of the Pyramids. This good-looking Moor, with his -black eyes and pallid skin, wrapped in a long snow-white cloak, has -carried his _caic_ and his carpets from the uttermost western limits of -the Atlas chain. That green-turbaned Turk, with the emaciated face, -has this very year returned from the great pilgrimage. After seeing -relatives and companions die of thirst amid the interminable plains of -Asia Minor, he finally reached Mecca in the last stages of exhaustion, -and, after dragging himself seven times around the _Kaaba_, finally -fell half swooning upon the Black Stone, covering it with impassioned -kisses. This giant with a pale face, arched brows, and piercing eyes, -who has far more the air of a warrior than of a merchant, his entire -bearing breathing nothing but pride and arrogance, has brought his -furs hither from the northern regions of the Caucasus, and in his day -struck at a blow the head from off the shoulders of more than one -Cossack. And this poor wool-merchant, with his flat face and small -oblique eyes, active and sinewy as an athlete, it is not so long since -he was saying his prayers in the shadow of that immense dome which -rises above the sepulchre of Tamerlane. Starting from Samarcand, he -crossed the desert of Great Bûkharia, and, passing safely through the -midst of the Turkoman hordes, crossed the Dead Sea, escaped the balls -of the Circassians, and, after returning thanks to Allah in the mosques -of Trebizond, has at last come to seek his fortune in Stambul, from -whence, as he grows old, he will surely return once more to his beloved -Tartary, which always claims the first place in his heart. - -The shoe bazâr is one of the most resplendent of all, and possibly -fills the brain more than any other with wild longings and riotous -desires. It consists of two glittering rows of shops, which make the -street in which it is situated look like a suite of royal apartments -or like one of those gardens in the Arabian fairy-stories where the -fruit trees are laden with pearls and have golden leaves. There are -shoes enough there to supply the feet of every court in Europe and -Asia. The walls are completely covered with slippers of the sauciest -shapes and most striking and fanciful colors, made out of skins, -velvet, brocade, and satin, ornamented with filigree-work, gold, -tinsel, pearls, silken tassels, swan’s down; flowered and starred in -gold and silver; so thickly covered with intricate embroidery as to -completely hide the original texture; and glittering with emeralds and -sapphires. You can buy shoes there for the boatman’s bride or for the -Seraglio belle; you may pay five francs a pair or a thousand. There are -morocco shoes destined to walk the paved streets of Pera, and beside -them Turkish slippers which will one day glide over the thick carpets -of some pasha’s harem; light wooden shoes which will resound on the -marbles of the imperial baths; tiny slippers of white satin on which -ardent lovers’ kisses will be showered; and it may well be that yonder -pair encrusted with pearls will some day stand beside the couch of the -Padishâh himself, awaiting the pretty feet of some beautiful Georgian. -But how, you ask yourself, is it possible for any feet to get into -such tiny little receptacles? Some of them seem intended to fit the -houris and fairies--long as the leaf of a lily, wide as the leaf of -a rose, of such dimensions as to throw all Andalusia into despair; -graceful as a dream--not slippers at all, but jewels, toys, objects -to stand on one’s table full of bonbons or to keep billetsdoux in. -Once allow your imagination to dwell upon the foot which could wear -them, and you are seized with an insane desire to behold it yourself, -to stroke and caress it like some pretty plaything. This bazâr is one -of those most frequented by strangers: it is not unusual to encounter -young Europeans wandering about with slips of paper in their hands upon -which are inscribed the measurements of some small French or Italian -foot, of which they are possibly quite proud, and it is amusing to -see their faces fall and the look of incredulous astonishment which -follows the discovery that some slipper which has attracted their fancy -is far too small; while others, having asked the price of a pair they -had thought of buying, receive so overwhelming a reply that they make -off without a word. Here, too, may sometimes be seen Mussulman ladies -(_hanum_) with long white veils, and one can often catch, in passing, -fragments of their lengthy dialogues with the shopkeepers, brief -sentences of that beautiful language, uttered in sweet, clear tones, -which fall upon the ear like the notes of a mandolin: “_Buni catscia -verersin!_” (How much is this?) “_Pahalli dir_” (It is too high). -“_Ziade veremem_” (I won’t pay any more). And then a childish, ringing -laugh, which makes you feel like patting them on the head or pinching -their cheeks. - -But the richest and most picturesque of all is the armory bazâr. It is -more like a museum, really, than a bazâr, overflowing with treasures -and filled with objects which at once transport the imagination -into the realms of history and legend. Every sort and shape of -weapon is there, fantastic, horrible, cruel-looking, which has ever -been brandished in defence of Islamism from Mecca to the Danube, -polished and set out in warlike array, as though but now laid down -by the fanatical soldiery of Muhammad and Selim. You seem to see the -glittering eyes of those formidable sultans, those savage Janissaries, -those _spahis_ and _azabs_, drunk with blood, amid the gleaming -blades--those _silidars_, to whom pity and fear were alike unknown, -and who strewed Europe and Asia Minor with severed heads and stiffened -corpses. Here are displayed those renowned cimeters capable of cutting -through a floating feather or striking off the ears of audacious -ambassadors; those heavy Turkish daggers which cleaved downward at -a blow from the skull to the very heart; mighty clubs which crashed -through Servian and Hungarian helmets; _yataghans_, their handles -inlaid with ivory and encrusted with amethysts and rubies, and on -their blades the engraved record of the number of heads they have cut -off; poniards with silver, velvet, or satin sheaths and agate or ivory -handles set with coral, turquoise, and garnets, inscribed in golden -lettering with verses from the Koran, their blades curved backward as -though feeling for a heart. Who can tell whether amid all this strange -and terrible array there may not be the cimeter of Orcano or the sabre -with which the powerful arm of the warrior-dervish Abd-el-Murad struck -off the heads of his enemies at a single blow; or that famous yataghan -with which Sultan Moussa clove asunder the body of Hassan from shoulder -to heart; or the huge cimeter of the Bulgarian giant who set the first -ladder in place against the walls of Constantinople; or the club with -which Muhammad II. felled his rapacious soldiers beneath the roof of -St. Sophia; or the mighty Damascus sabre with which Scanderbeg cut down -Firuzi Pasha beneath the walls of Stetigrad? All the most horrible -massacres and blood-curdling murders of Ottoman history, revolts of -the Janissaries, and black deeds of treachery come crowding into one’s -mind at the mere sight of these terrific weapons, and one fancies that -bloodstains can be detected upon the gleaming blades, and that those -old Turks lurking in the dim recesses of their shops have gathered -them from the field of battle--yes, and the bodies of their owners -as well--and that even now their shattered skeletons are occupying -some obscure corner close at hand. In among the arms are great blue -and scarlet velvet saddles, worked with gold stars and crescents and -embroidered in pearls, with plumed frontals and chased silver bits; -saddle-cloths magnificent as royal mantles; trappings which remind one -of the _Thousand and One Nights_, seemingly intended for the use of a -king of the genii making his triumphal entry into a golden city in the -land of dreams. Suspended on the walls above all these treasures are -antique firelock muskets, clumsy Albanian pistols, long Arabian guns -worked and chased like pieces of jewelry; ancient shields made out of -bark, tortoise-shell, or hippopotamus skin; Circassian armor, Cossack -shields, Mongolian head-pieces, Turkish bows, executioners’ axes, great -blades of uncouth shape and full of horrible suggestions, each one of -which seems to bear witness to a crime committed, and brings before one -frightful visions of death-agonies. - -Seated cross-legged in the midst of all these objects of magnificence -and horror are the merchants who, of all those to be found in the Great -Bazâr, present the most striking and distinctive examples of the true -Mussulman. They are, for the most part, old, of forbidding aspect, lean -as anchorites, haughty as sultans, belonging apparently to another age -and wearing the dress of a bygone era: it would seem as though they -had arisen from the dead for the purpose of recalling their degenerate -descendants to the forgotten austerities of their ancient race. - -Another spot well worth seeing is the old-clothes bazâr. Rembrandt -would simply have taken up his abode here, and Goya have expended his -last _peseta_. Any one who has never been in an Oriental second-hand -shop can form no idea of the variety and richness of the rags, pomp -of color, and irony of contrast to be found in them--a sight at once -fantastic, melancholy, and repellent. They are a sort of rag-sewer, in -which the refuse of harem, barrack, court, and theatre await together -the moment when some artist’s caprice or beggar’s necessity shall once -more call them forth into the light of day. From long poles fastened -to the walls depend antique Turkish uniforms, swallow-tailed coats, -fine gentlemen’s cloaks, dervishes’ tunics, Bedouins’ mantles, all -greasy, torn, and faded, looking as though they had been taken by force -from their former owners, and strongly resembling the booty found on -footpads and assassins which may be seen on exhibition in the Court of -Assizes. In among all these rags and tatters one catches the glitter of -an occasional bit of gold embroidery; old silk scarfs and turbans, all -unwrapped, dangle to and fro; a rich shawl with ragged edges; a velvet -corsage looking as though some rude hand had torn off its trimming -of pearls and fur; slippers and veils which may once have belonged -to some beautiful sinner, whose body, sewn up in a bag, now sleeps -quietly enough beneath the rippling waters of the Bosphorus;--these -and countless other feminine garments and adornments, of all manner of -charming shapes and colors, hang imprisoned between rough Circassian -caftans, long black Jewish capes, rusty cartridge-boxes, heavy cloaks -and coarse tunics beneath whose folds who knows how often the bandit’s -musket or dagger of the assassin may have been hidden? On toward -evening, when the subdued light from the roof above becomes still -more uncertain, all these garments, as they sway back and forth in -the wind, assume the look and air of human bodies strung up there by -some murderer’s hand, and just then, as your eye catches the sinister -glance of one of those old Jews seated watchfully in the rear of his -gloomy den of a shop, you cannot avoid fancying that the skinny claw -with which he scratches his forehead can be no other than the one -which tightened the rope--a soothing idea which causes you to glance -involuntarily over your shoulder to see if the entrance to the bazâr is -still open. - -One day of wandering here and there will not suffice if you really -wish to see every part of this strange city. There is the fez bazâr, -in which are to be found fezzes of every country in the world, from -that of Morocco to the Vienna fez, ornamented with inscriptions from -the Koran, which serve to ward off evil spirits; the fez which is -worn perched on the tops of their heads by the pretty Greek girls -of Smyrna, surmounting their coils of black hair intertwined with -coins; the little red fez of the Turkish women; soldiers’, generals’, -sultans’, dandies’ fezzes, of all shades of red and every style, from -the primitive ones worn in the days of Orcano to the large and elegant -fez of Mahmûd, emblem of reform and an abomination in the eyes of -Mussulmans of the old school. - -Then there is the fur bazâr, where may be seen the sacred fur of the -black wolf, which at one time none but the Sultan himself and his grand -vizier were allowed to wear; the marten, used to trim state caftans; -skins of white and black bears; astrakhan, ermine, blue wolf, and rich -sable skins, upon which in old times the sultans would expend fabulous -sums of money. - -Then the cutlery bazâr is worth a visit, if only to examine those huge -Turkish shears whose bronzed and gilded blades, adorned with fantastic -designs of birds and flowers, open with a murderous sweep wide enough -to swallow up entirely the head of an unfavorable critic. - -There are the gold-thread embroidery, china, household utensils, and -tailors’ bazârs, all differing from one another in size, shape, and -character, but all in one respect alike, that in none of them do you -ever see a woman either attending to the customers or working apart. At -the very most, it may occasionally happen that a Greek woman, seated -for a moment in front of some tailor’s shop, will timidly offer to -sell you a handkerchief she has just finished embroidering. Oriental -jealousy forbids shopkeeping to the fair sex, as offering too wide a -field for coquetry and intrigue. - -In other parts of the Great Bazâr it is as well for a stranger not -to venture unless he is accompanied by a dragoman or one of the -shopkeepers. Those are the interior parts of the various districts -into which this strange city is divided--the islands, as it were, -about which wind and twist the rapid currents of streets and byways. -If it is a difficult matter to keep from losing your way among the -main thoroughfares, in here it is quite impossible. From passage-ways -scarcely wider than a man’s shoulders, where it is necessary to -stoop to avoid striking your head, you come out upon tiny courtyards -encumbered with bales and boxes, where hardly so much as a single ray -of light can penetrate. Feeling your way down flights of wooden steps, -you come to other courts lighted only by lanterns, from which you -descend below ground, or, climbing up again into what passes for the -light of day, stumble with bent head through long, winding corridors, -beneath damp roofs and between black and moss-grown walls, to come at -last upon some small hidden doorway, and suddenly find yourself exactly -where you started. Everywhere shadowy forms are seen coming and going; -dusky shapes stand immovable in dark corners, outlines of persons -handling merchandise or counting money; lights which flash ahead of you -at one moment, and the next, disappear; a sound of hurrying footsteps, -of low, eager voices, coming from you don’t know where; reflections -thrown from unseen lights; suspicious encounters; strange odors like -those one might expect to escape from a witch’s cave; and apparently -no possible means of escape from it all. The dragoman is very apt to -conduct his victim through these quarters on his way to those shops, -usually somewhat apart, which contain a little of everything, like -Great Bazârs in miniature or a superior sort of second-hand shop, -extremely curious and interesting, but extremely perilous as well, -since they contain such a variety of rare and attractive objects as to -woo the money out of the pocket of the veriest miser. The shopkeepers -here are great solemn knaves, thoroughly well versed in every art -appertaining to their business, and, polyglot like their brothers of -the trade, have a certain dramatic power which they employ in the most -entertaining manner to tempt people to buy, sometimes rising to the -level of genuinely good acting. Their shops usually consist of dark -little holes cluttered up with boxes and chests of drawers, where -lights have to be lit in order to see anything, and there is barely -enough space to turn around in. After displaying a few trifles inlaid -with ivory and mother-of-pearl, some bits of Chinese porcelain, a -Japanese vase or two, and some other things of the same sort, the -shopkeeper informs you with an impressive air that he sees what sort -of person you are, and will now bring out something especially suited -to you. He then proceeds to pull out a certain drawer, whose contents -he empties upon the table. There are all manner of knick-knacks and -gewgaws--a peacock-feather fan, a bracelet made of old Turkish coins, -a little leather cushion with the Sultan’s monogram embroidered upon -it in gold, a Persian hand-glass painted with a scene from the _Book -of Paradise_, one of those tortoise-shell spoons with which Turks -eat cherry compôte, an ancient decoration of the Order of Osmanieh. -You don’t care for any of these, either? Very well. He turns out the -contents of another, and this is a drawer which, as a matter of fact, -was being reserved for your eye alone. There is a broken elephant’s -tusk; a Trebizond bracelet, looking as though it had been made from a -lock of silver hair; a Japanese idol; a sandal-wood comb from Mecca; a -large Turkish spoon, chased and filigreed; an antique silver narghileh, -gilded and inscribed; bits of mosaic from St. Sophia; a heron’s -feather, which once ornamented the turban of Selim III.: for the truth -of this last statement the merchant, as a man of honor, is willing to -vouch. And still there is nothing which suits your fancy? Here, then, -is another drawer, crammed full of treasures--an ostrich egg from -Sahara; a Persian inkstand; a chased ring; a Mingrelian bow, with its -quiver made out of an elk’s skin; a Circassian two-pointed head-piece; -a jasper rosary; a smelling-bottle of beaten gold; a Turkish talisman; -a camel-driver’s knife; a box of _attar-gul_. In Heaven’s name, is -there still nothing that tempts you? Have you no presents to make? no -beloved relatives? no dear friends? Perhaps, though, your tastes run -to stuffs and carpets. Well, here too he can assist you as a friend. -“Behold, milor, this striped Kurdistan mantle, this lion skin; yonder -rug is from Aleppo, with its little steel fastenings, while this -_Casablanca_ carpet, three fingers thick, is guaranteed to last for -four generations; here, Your Excellency, are old cushions, old brocade -scarfs, old silken coverlids, a little faded, a little frayed out at -the edges, it is true, but such embroidery as you could not get in -these days, even if you were to offer a fortune. You, _caballero_, have -been brought here by a friend of mine, and for that reason I am going -to let you have this ancient sash for the sum of five napoleons, and -live myself on bread and garlic for one week in order to make up the -loss.” Should even this magnificent offer fail to move you, he whispers -in your ear that he has in his possession, and is moreover willing to -sell, the very rope with which the terrible Seraglio mutes strangled -Nassuh Pasha, Muhammad Third’s grand vizier. And if you laugh in his -face and decline to swallow it, he gives it up at once like a sensible -man, and proceeds to make his final effort, displaying before you, in -rapid succession, a horse’s tail such as were once carried before and -after every pasha; a janissary’s helmet, spattered with blood, which -his own father picked up on the day of the famous massacre; a scrap of -one of the flags carried in the Crimea, showing the silver star and -crescent; a wash-basin studded with agates; a brazier of beaten copper; -a dromedary-collar with its shells and bells; a eunuch’s whip made of -hippopotamus leather; a gold-bound Koran; a Khorassan scarf; a pair of -slippers from a kadyn’s wardrobe; a candlestick made from the claw of -an eagle,--until at length your imagination is fired. The longing to -possess breaks forth, and you are seized with a mad impulse to throw -down your purse, watch, overcoat, everything you have, and fill your -pockets with booty. One must indeed be an uncommonly well-balanced -person, a very mountain of wisdom, to be able to withstand the -temptations of this place, whence many an artist has come forth as poor -as Job, and where more than one rich man has thrown away his fortune. - -But before the Great Bazâr closes let us take a turn around to see how -it looks at the end of the day. The crowd moves along more hurriedly; -shopkeepers call out to you and gesticulate more imperiously than ever; -Greeks and Armenians run through the streets calling aloud, with -shawls or rugs hung over their arms, or form into groups, bargaining -and discussing as they move about, then break up and form again into -other groups farther off; horses, carriages, beasts of burden, all -moving in the direction of the gateway, pass by in endless files. At -this hour all those tradespeople with whom you have had fruitless -negotiations during the day start to life again, circling around you -in the dusk like so many bats: you see them peeping out from behind -columns; come suddenly upon them at every turn; they cross in front -of you or pass close by you gazing abstractedly in the air, to remind -you by their presence of that certain rug or that bit of jewelry, and, -if possible, reawaken your desire to possess it. Sometimes you are -followed by a whole troop of them at once: if you stop, they do the -same; if you slip down a side street, you find them there before you; -turning suddenly, you are aware of a dozen sharp eyes fixed upon you -which seem to fairly devour you whole. But already the fading light -warns the crowd to disperse. Beneath the vaulted roof can be heard the -voice of an invisible muezzin announcing the sunset from some wooden -minaret. Some Turks have spread strips of carpet in the street before -their shop-doors and are murmuring the evening prayer; others perform -their ablutions at the fountains. The centenarians of the armor bazâr -have already shut to their great iron doors; the smaller bazârs are -empty; the farther ends of the corridors are lost in shadow, and the -openings of the side streets look like the mouths of caves. Camels -suddenly loom up close to you in the uncertain light; the voices of the -water-carriers echo distantly among the arched roofs; the Turk quickens -his step and the eunuch’s eyes grow more alert; strangers are seen -hurrying away; the entrance is closed; the day ended. - -And now on all sides I can hear the questions: What about St. Sophia? -and the old Seraglio? and the Sultan’s palaces? and the Castle of the -Seven Towers? and Abdul-Aziz? and the Bosphorus. All in good time: each -one of them shall be fully described in turn, but for still a little -while longer let us wander here and there about the city, touching at -every page upon some new theme just as some new idea strikes our fancy -at every step. - - - - -LIFE IN CONSTANTINOPLE. - - -THE LIGHT. - -[Illustration: View of Stamboul. Mosque of Validêh and Bridge.] - -And first of all I must speak of the light. One of my chief pleasures -at Constantinople was to watch the sun rise and set from the bridge of -the Validéh Sultan. At daybreak in the autumn there is almost always -a light fog hanging over the Golden Horn, through which the city can -only be seen indistinctly, as though one were looking through those -thin gauze curtains which are lowered across the stage of a theatre in -order to hide the details of some grand spectacular effect. Skutari -is quite invisible; only her hills, a vague outline, can be faintly -traced against the eastern sky. The bridge, as well as both banks, is -deserted. Constantinople is buried in slumber, and the profound silence -and solitude lend solemnity and impressiveness to the scene. Presently -behind the Skutari hills the sky begins to show streaks of gold, and, -one by one, against that luminous background, the inky points of the -cypress trees stand out clear and defined, like a company of giants -drawn up in battle-array on the heights of her vast cemetery. Now a -single ray of light flashes from one end to the other of the Golden -Horn, like the first faint sigh of returning consciousness, as the -great city stirs and slowly awakens once more to life. Then, behind -the cypresses on the Asiatic shore, a fiery eye shines forth, and -immediately upon the white summits of St. Sophia’s four minarets an -answering blush is seen. In rapid succession from hill to hill, from -mosque to mosque, to the farthest end of the Golden Horn, every minaret -turns to rose, every dome to silver. The crimson flush creeps down -from one terrace to another; the light increases, the veil is lifted, -and all of Stambul lies revealed, rosy and resplendent on the heights, -tinged with blue and violet shadows on the water’s edge, but everywhere -fresh and sparkling as though just risen from the waves. In proportion -as the sun rises higher and higher the delicacy of the first coloring -disappears, swallowed up in the flood of dazzling light, which becomes -so white and blinding as in turn to slightly obscure everything, until -toward evening, when the glorious spectacle recommences. So clear does -the atmosphere then become that from Galata you can easily distinguish -each separate tree on the farthermost point of Kadi-keui. The huge -profile of Stambul is thrown out against the sky with such distinctness -and accuracy of detail that it would be quite possible to note one -by one every minaret, every spire and cypress tree, that crowns her -heights from Seraglio Point to the cemetery of Eyûb. The waters of -the Bosphorus and Golden Horn turn to a marvellous ultramarine; the -sky, of the color of amethysts in the east, grows fiery as it reaches -Stambul, lighting up the horizon with a hundred tints of crimson and -gold, making one think of the first day of creation. Stambul grows -dim, Galata golden, while Skutari, receiving the full blaze of the -setting sun upon her thousand casements, looks like a city devoured -by flames. And this is the most perfect moment in all the twenty-four -hours in which to see Constantinople. It is a rapid succession of the -most exquisite tints--pale gold, rose, and lilac--mingling and blending -one with another on the hillsides and water’s surface, lending to -first one part of the city and then to another the finishing touch -to its perfect beauty, and revealing a thousand modest charms of -hill- and country-side, which were too shy to thrust themselves into -notice beneath the blaze of the noonday sun. It is then that you see -the great melancholy suburbs losing themselves amid the shadows of -the valleys--little purple-tinted hamlets smiling on the hilltops; -towns and villages which languish and droop as though their life were -ebbing away; others disappear from view, as you look at them, like -fires which have been suddenly extinguished; others, again, apparently -quite dead, come unexpectedly to life again, all aglow, and sparkle -joyously for still some moments longer in the last rays of the sun. -Finally, however, nothing remains but two shining summits on the -Asiatic shore--Mt. Bûlgurlù and the point of the cape which guards the -entrance to the Propontis. At first they are two golden coronets, then -two little crimson caps, then two rubies; and then Constantinople is -plunged in shadow, while ten thousand voices from ten thousand minarets -announce that the sun has set. - - -THE BIRDS. - -Constantinople possesses a grace and gayety all her own emanating from -her myriads of birds of every species, objects of especial veneration -and affection among the Turks. Mosque and grove, ancient wall and -garden, palace and courtyard, are full of song, of the cheerful sound -of twittering and chirping; everywhere there is the rush of wings, -everywhere the busy, active little lives go on. Sparrows come boldly -into the houses and eat from the women’s and children’s hands; swallows -build their nests over the doorways of cafés and beneath the roofs of -bazârs; innumerable flocks of pigeons, maintained by means of legacies -from different sultans as well as private individuals, form black and -white garlands around the cornices of the domes and terraces of the -minarets; gulls circle joyously about the granaries; thousands of -turtle-doves bill and coo among the cypress trees in the cemeteries; -all around the Castle of the Seven Towers ravens croak and vultures -hover significantly; kingfishers come and go in long lines between the -Black Sea and Sea of Marmora; while storks may be seen resting upon -the domes of solitary mausoleums. For the Turk each one of these birds -possesses some pleasing quality or lucky influence. The turtle-dove is -the patron of lovers; the swallow will protect from fire any building -where her nest is built; the stork performs a yearly pilgrimage to -Mecca; while the halcyon carries the souls of the faithful to Paradise. -Hence they feed and protect them both from religious motives and from -gratitude, and in return the birds make a continual festival around -their houses, on the water, and among the tombs. In every quarter of -Stambul they soar and circle about, grazing against you in their noisy -flights, and filling the entire city with something of the joyous -freedom of the open country, constantly bringing up before one’s mind -images of nature. - - -ASSOCIATIONS. - -In no other city of Europe do the sites and monuments, either legendary -or historical, act so forcibly upon the imagination as at Stambul, -because in no other spot do they record events at once so recent and so -picturesque. Elsewhere, in order to get away from the prose of modern -every-day life, one is obliged to go back for several centuries; at -Stambul a few years suffice. Legend, or what has all the character -and force of legend, dates from yesterday. It is not many years since, -in the square of Et-Meidan, the celebrated massacre of the Janissaries -took place; not many years since the waters of the Sea of Marmora -cast up upon the banks of the imperial gardens those twenty sacks -containing each the body of a beauty of Mustafa’s harem; not long since -Brancovano’s family was executed in the Castle of the Seven Towers, or -European ambassadors were pinioned between two _kapuji-basci_ in the -presence of the Grand Seigneur, upon whose half-averted countenance -there glowed a mysterious light; or within the walls of the old -Seraglio that life--so extraordinary--a mingling of horrors, love, and -folly, ceased finally to exist, which now seems to belong to such a -far-distant past. Wandering about the streets of Stambul and reflecting -upon all these things, you cannot help a feeling of astonishment at the -calm, cheerful aspect of the city, gay with color and vegetation. “Ah, -traitoress!” you cry, “what have you done with all those mountains of -heads, those lakes of blood? How is it possible that everything has -been so cleverly concealed, so wiped out and obliterated, that not a -trace remains?” - -On the Bosphorus, beneath the Seraglio walls and just opposite -Leander’s Tower, which rises from the water like a lover’s monument, -you may still behold the inclined plane down which the bodies of -the unfaithful beauties of the harem were rolled into the sea; -in the middle of the Et-Meidan the serpentine column still bears -witness to the force of Muhammad the Conqueror’s famous sabre; on the -Mahmûd bridge the spot is still pointed out on which the fiery sultan -annihilated at a single blow the adventurous dervish who had dared to -fling an anathema in his face; in the Holy Well of the Balukli church -the miraculous fish still swim about which foretold the fall of the -City of the Palæologi; beneath the trees of the Sweet Waters of Asia -you can visit those shady retreats where a dissolute sultana was wont -to bestow upon the favorite of the hour that fatal love whose certain -sequence was death. Every doorway, every tower, every mosque and park -and open square, records some strange event--a tragedy, a love-story, -a mystery, the absolutism of a padishah or the reckless caprice of a -sultana; everything has a history of its own, and wherever you turn the -near-by objects, the distant view, the balmy perfumed air, the silence, -all unite to transport him whose mind is stored with these histories -of the past out of himself, his era, and the city of to-day, so that -not infrequently, when suddenly confronted with the suggestion that -it is high time to think of returning to the hotel, he asks himself -confusedly what it means, how can there be a “hotel.” - -[Illustration: Serpentine Column of Delphi.] - - -RESEMBLANCES. - -In those early days, fresh from reading masses of Oriental literature, -I kept recognizing in the people I met on the streets famous personages -who figure in the legends and history of the East: sometimes they -answered so entirely to the picture I had drawn in my own mind of some -celebrated character that I would find myself stopping short in the -street to gaze after them. How often have I seized my friend’s arm, -and, pointing out some passer-by, exclaimed, “There he goes, by Jove! -Don’t you recognize him?” In the square of the Sultan Validéh I have -many a time seen the gigantic Turk who hurled down rocks and stones -upon the heads of Baglione’s soldiers before the walls of Nicea; near -one of the mosques I came across Unm Dgiemil, the old witch of Mecca -who sowed thorns and brambles in front of Mohammed’s house; coming out -of the book bazâr one day, I ran against Digiemal-eddin, the great -scholar of Brusa, who knew all the Arabian dictionary by heart, walking -along with a volume tucked under his arm; I have passed close enough -to Ayesha, the favorite wife of the Prophet, to receive a steady look -from those eyes “like twin stars reflected in a well.” I recognized in -the Et-Meidan the beautiful and unfortunate Greek killed at the foot of -the serpentine column by a ball from the huge guns of Orban; turning -a sharp corner of one of the narrow streets of Phanar, I found myself -suddenly face to face with Kara-Abderrahman, the handsomest young Turk -of the days of Orkhan; I have seen Coswa, Mohammed’s she-camel, and -recognized Kara-bidut, Selim’s black charger; I have encountered poor -Fighani, the poet, who was condemned to go about Stambul harnessed -to an ass for having made Ibrahim’s grand vizier the subject of a -lampoon; I saw in one of the cafés the unwieldy form of Soliman, the -fat admiral, whom the united efforts of four powerful slaves could -with difficulty drag up from his divan; and Ali, the grand vizier, who -failed to find throughout all Arabia a horse fit to carry him; and -Mahmûd Pasha, that ferocious Hercules who strangled Suleiman’s son; -and, established before the entrance of the copyists’ bazâr near the -Bayezid square, that stupid Ahmed II., who would say nothing all day -but “_Kosc! kosc!_” (Very well! very well!) Every character in the -_Thousand and One Nights_--the Aladdins, the Zobeids, the Sinbads, the -Gulnars, the old Jew dealers with their magic lamps and their enchanted -carpets for sale--passed before me one after another like a procession -of so many phantoms. - - -COSTUMES. - -This is perhaps the very best period in which to study the dress of -the Mussulman population of Constantinople. In the last generation, -as will probably be the case in the next, it presented too uniform an -appearance. You find it in a sort of transition stage, and presenting, -consequently, a wonderful variety of form and color. The steady -advance of the reform party, the resistance of the conservative Turks, -the uncertainty and vacillation of the great mass of the people, -hesitating between the two extremes--every aspect, in short, of the -conflict which is being waged between ancient and modern Turkey--is -faithfully reflected in the dress of her people. The old-fashioned Turk -still wears his turban, his caftan and sash, and the traditional yellow -morocco slippers, and, if he is one of the more strict and precise -kind, a veritable Turk of the old school, the turban will be of vast -proportions. The reformed Turk wears a long black coat buttoned close -up under the chin, and dark shoes and trousers, preserving nothing -Turkish in his costume but the fez. Some among the younger and bolder -spirits have even gone farther, and, discarding the black frock-coat, -substitute for it an open cut-away, light trousers, fancy cravat and -jewelry, and carry a cane, and a flower in the buttonhole. Between -these and those, the wearers of the caftan and the wearers of the coat, -there is a deep gulf fixed. They no longer have anything in common but -the name of Turk, and are in reality two separate nations. He of the -turban still believes implicitly in the bridge Sirat, finer than a -hair, sharper than a cimeter, which leads to the infernal regions; he -faithfully performs his ablutions at the appointed hours, and at sunset -shuts himself into his house. He of the frock-coat, on the contrary, -laughs at the Prophet, has his photograph taken, talks French, and -spends his evening at the theatre. Between these two extremes are -those who, having departed somewhat from the ancient dress of their -countrymen, are still unwilling to Europeanize themselves altogether. -Some of them, while wearing turbans, yet have them so exceedingly -small that some day they can be quietly exchanged for the fez without -creating too much scandal; others who still wear the caftan have -already adopted the fez; others, again, conform to the general fashion -of the ancient costume, but have left off the sash and slippers as well -as the bright colors, and little by little will get rid of the rest as -well. The women alone still adhere to their veils and the long mantles -covering the entire person; but the veil has grown transparent, and not -infrequently reveals the outline of a little hat and feathers, while -the mantle as often as not conceals a Parisian costume of the latest -mode. Every year a thousand caftans disappear to make room for as many -black coats; every day sees the death of a Turk of the old school, the -birth of one of the new. The newspaper replaces the _tespi_, the cigar -the chibuk; wine is used instead of flavored water, carriages instead -of the _arabà_; the French grammar supersedes the Arabian, the piano -the _timbur_; stone houses rise on the sites of wooden ones. Everything -is undergoing change and transformation. At the present rate it may -well be that in less than a century those who wish to find the traces -of ancient Turkey will be obliged to seek for them in the remotest -provinces of Asia Minor, just as we now look for ancient Spain in the -most out-of-the-way villages of Andalusia. - - -CONSTANTINOPLE OF THE FUTURE. - -Often, while gazing at Constantinople from the bridge of the Sultan -Validéh, I would be confronted by the question, “What is to become -of this city in one or two centuries, even if the Turks are not -driven out of Europe?” Alas! there is but little doubt that the great -holocaust of beauty at the hands of civilization will have been already -accomplished. I can see that Constantinople of the future, that -Oriental London, rearing itself in mournful and forbidding majesty upon -the ruins of the most radiant city in the world. Her hills will be -levelled, her woods and groves cut down, her many-colored houses razed -to the ground; the horizon will be shut in on all sides by long rows of -palatial dwellings, factories, and workshops, broken here and there by -huge business-houses and pointed spires; long, straight streets will -divide Stambul into ten thousand square blocks like a checker-board; -telegraph-wires will interlace like some monster spider-web above -the roofs of the noisy city; across the bridge of the Sultan Validéh -will pour a black torrent of stiff hats and caps; the mysterious -retreats of the Seraglio will become a zoological garden, the Castle -of the Seven Towers a penitentiary, the Hebdomon Palace a museum of -natural history; everything will be solid, geometrical, useful, gray, -hideous, and a thick black cloud of smoke will hide the blue Thracian -heavens, to which no more ardent prayers will be addressed nor poets’ -songs nor longing eyes of lovers. At such thoughts as these I could -not help feeling my heart sink within me, but then quickly there came -the consoling fancy that possibly--who knows?--some charming Italian -bride of the next century, coming here on her wedding journey, may -be heard to exclaim, “What a pity! what a dreadful pity it is that -Constantinople has changed so from what it was at the period of that -old torn book of the nineteenth century I found in the bottom of my -grandmother’s clothes-press!” - - -THE DOGS. - -In those coming days another feature of Constantinopolitan life will -also have disappeared, which is now one of the most curious of her -curiosities--the dogs. And, as this is a subject which really merits -attention, I am going to devote some little space to it. Constantinople -is one huge dog-kennel; every one can see this for himself as soon as -he gets there. The dogs constitute a second population in the city, -and, while they are less numerous than the first, they are hardly less -interesting as a study. Every one knows how the Turks love and protect -them, but just why they do so is not so easy to decide. I could not, -for my own part, make out whether it is because the Koran recommends -all men to be merciful to animals, or because they are supposed, like -certain birds, to bring good luck, or because the Prophet loved them, -or because they figure in their sacred books, or because, as some -insist, when Muhammad the Conqueror made his victorious entry into the -city through the breach in the gate of St. Romanus he was accompanied -by a following composed principally of dogs. Be this as it may, the -fact remains that many Turks leave considerable sums at their death for -their maintenance, and when Sultan Abdul-Mejid had them all transported -to the island of Marmora the people murmured, so that they were brought -back amid public rejoicings, and the government has not attempted to -interfere with them since. At the same time, the dog, having been -pronounced by the Koran to be an unclean animal, not one out of all the -innumerable hordes which infest Constantinople has an owner; any Turk -harboring one would consider his house defiled. They are associated -together in a great republic of freebooters, without collars or masters -or kennels or homes or laws. Their entire lives are passed in the -streets. There, scratching out little dens for themselves, they sleep -and eat, are born, nourish their young, and die; and no one, at least -in Stambul, interferes in the smallest degree with their occupations or -their repose. They are the masters of the road. With us it is customary -for the dogs to withdraw to allow horses and people to pass by. There -it is quite different, people, camels, horses, donkeys, and vehicles -making sometimes quite a considerable circuit in order not to disturb -the dogs: sometimes in one of the most crowded quarters of Stambul -four or five of them, curled up fast asleep directly in the middle of -the street, will make the entire population turn out for half a day. -And in Pera and Galata it is nearly as bad, only there it is done -less out of respect for the dogs themselves than for their numbers. -Were you to attempt to clear the road, you would have to keep up an -uninterrupted series of blows and kicks from the moment you set out -until your return. The utmost they will do voluntarily is, when they -see a carriage and four coming like the wind down some level street, -at the last moment, when there is no possible hope of its turning -out and the horses’ hoofs are fairly grazing their backs, they will -slowly and unwillingly drag themselves a couple of feet to one side, -nicely calculating the least possible distance necessary to save -their precious necks. Laziness is the distinguishing quality of the -Constantinople dogs. They lie down in the middle of the street, five or -six or a dozen of them in a row or group, curled up in such a manner as -to look much more like heaps of refuse than living animals, and there -they will sleep away the entire day, undisturbed by the din and clamor -going on about them, and not rain or sun, wind or cold, has the least -power to affect them. When it snows, they sleep under the snow; when it -rains, they stay on until they are so completely covered with mud that -when they finally get up they look like unfinished clay models of dogs, -with nothing to indicate eyes, ears, or mouth. - -The conditions of society, however, in Pera and Galata are not quite -so favorable to the contemplative life as in Stambul, owing to the -greater difficulty in obtaining food: in the latter place they live -_en pension_, while in the former they eat _à la carte_. They take the -place of scavengers, falling with joy upon refuse which hogs would -decline as food, willing, in fact, to eat pretty much everything short -of stones. No sooner have they swallowed sufficient to sustain life -than they compose themselves to slumber, and continue to sleep until -aroused again by the pangs of hunger. And they almost always sleep -in the same spot. The canine population of Constantinople is divided -into settlements and quarters, just as the human population is. Every -street and neighborhood is inhabited, or rather held possession of, by -a certain number of dogs, the relatives and friends of one family, who -never leave it themselves or allow strangers to come in. They have a -sort of police force, with outposts and sentries, who go the rounds -and act as scouts. Woe to that dog who, emboldened by hunger, dares to -adventure his person across the boundaries of his neighbors’ territory! -A crowd of infuriated curs give chase the instant his presence is -discovered; if he is caught, they make short work of him; otherwise he -is pursued as far as the confines of their own quarter, but no farther, -as the enemy’s country is nearly always both feared and respected. -It would be impossible to convey any just idea of the skirmishes and -pitched battles which arise over a disputed bone, a reigning belle, or -an infringement of territorial rights. Two dogs encounter one another; -a dispute follows, and instantly reinforcements pour in from every -street, lane, and alley; nothing can be seen but a confused, moving -mass enveloped in clouds of dust, out of which there issues such a -deafening hurlyburly of howls, yelps, and snarls as would crack the -ear-drums even of a deaf man. At last the group breaks up again, and, -as the dust subsides, the bodies of the fallen may be seen extended -on the ground. Love-passages, jealousies, duels, bloodshed, broken -limbs, and lacerated skins are the affairs of every hour. Occasionally -they assemble in such noisy troops in front of some shop that the -owner and his assistants are obliged, in the interests of trade, -to arm themselves with stools and bars and sally forth in approved -military style, taking the enemy by storm; and then there follows a -pandemonium of howls, yells, and lamentations mingling with the sound -of cracked heads and ribs, enough to fairly make the welkin ring. In -Pera and Galata especially these wretched beasts are so ill treated, so -accustomed to expect a blow whenever they see a stick, that at the mere -sound of a cane or umbrella on the sidewalk they make preparations for -flight: even when they seem to be fast asleep they frequently have the -corner of one eye, just the point of a pupil, open, with which to watch -attentively, for a quarter of an hour at a time, the slightest movement -of some distant object bearing a resemblance, no matter how slight, to -a stick. So unused are they to humane treatment that if you pat the -head of one of them in passing, a dozen others come running up, fawning -and gambolling and wagging their tails, to receive a like caress, and -accompany the generous patron all the way to the end of the street, -their eyes shining with joy and gratitude. - -[Illustration: Group of Dogs.] - -The condition of a dog in Pera and Galata is worse, all said, than that -of a spider in Holland, and their’s is usually admitted to be the most -persecuted race in all the animal kingdom. When one sees the existence -led by these miserable dogs, it is impossible not to think that there -must be for them, as well, some compensation in another world. Like -everything else in Constantinople, the sight of them recalled an -historical reminiscence, but in their case it seemed like the -bitterest irony to picture the life of Bayezid’s famous hunting-pack, -who ran about the imperial forests of Olympia wearing purple trappings -and collars set with pearls. What a contrast of social conditions! -Their unfortunate state has no doubt a great deal to do with their -hideous appearance, but, apart from that, they are almost all of the -mastiff breed or wolf-dogs, bearing some resemblance to both foxes and -wolves, or rather they do not bear a resemblance to anything, but are -a horrible race of mongrels, spotted over with strange colors--about -as large as the so-called butcher’s dog, and so thin that each rib -can be counted twenty feet off. Most of them, moreover, have become -so reduced in the course of a life of incessant warfare that if you -did not see them moving about you would be apt to take them for the -mutilated remains of dogs. You find them with their tails cut off, -ears torn, with skinned backs, sides laid open, blind in one eye, lame -in two legs, covered with wounds, devoured by flies, reduced to the -last possible stages to which a living dog can be brought--veritable -types of war, famine, and pestilence. The tail may be spoken of, in -connection with them, as an article of luxury: rare is it, indeed, for -a Constantinople dog to enjoy the possession of one for more than a -couple of months, at most, of public life. Poor creatures! they would -move a heart of stone to pity, and yet at times they are so grotesquely -maimed and altered, you see them going along with such a singular -gait, such odd, ungainly movements, that it is almost impossible not -to laugh outright. And, after all, neither hunger nor blows, nor even -warfare, constitutes their most serious trial, but a cruel custom which -has prevailed for some time in Pera and Galata. Sometimes in the middle -of the night the peaceful inhabitants of a quarter are aroused from -their slumbers by a diabolical uproar: rushing to their windows, they -behold a crowd of dogs leaping and dancing about in agony, bounding -high in the air, striking their heads against the walls, or rolling -over and over in the dust: presently the uproar subsides, and in the -morning, by the early light, the street is seen all strewn with dead -bodies. It is the doctor or apothecary of the quarter, who, being in -the habit of studying at night, has distributed a handful of pills in -order to obtain a fortnight’s quiet. Through these and other means it -happens that there is some slight decrease in the number of dogs in -Pera and Galata; but what does this avail, since at Stambul they are -so rapidly on the increase that it is merely a question of time when -the supply of food there will prove insufficient for their support, and -colonists will be sent over to the other shore to supply the places -of those families which have been exterminated and fill up all blanks -caused by war, famine, or poison. - - -THE EUNUCHS. - -But there are other beings in Constantinople who arouse a far more -profound sentiment of pity than the dogs. The eunuchs, who were first -introduced among the Turks in spite of the clear and unmistakable voice -of the Koran, which denounced this infamous form of degradation in no -measured terms, continue to exist in defiance of recent legislation -prohibiting the inhuman traffic, since stronger than either law or -religion are the abominable thirst for gold which induces the crime -and the cowardly egotism which derives advantage from it. These -unfortunates are to be met at every street-corner, just as they are -encountered on every page of history. In the background of every -historical scene in Turkey may be traced one of these sinister forms -grasping the threads of a conspiracy, laden with gold, or stained with -blood--victim, favorite, or instrument of vengeance; if not openly -formidable, secretly so; standing like a spectre in the shadow of the -throne or blocking the approach to some mysterious doorway. And the -same way in Constantinople: in the midst of a crowded bazâr, among the -throng of pleasure-seekers at the Sweet Waters, beneath the columns of -the mosques, beside the carriages, on the steamboats, in käiks, at all -the festivals, wherever people are assembled together, one sees these -phantoms of men, these melancholy countenances, like a dark shadow -thrown across every aspect of gay Oriental life. With the decline of -the absolutism of the Sultan their political power has waned, just -as the relaxing of Oriental jealousy has diminished their importance -in private life; the advantages they once enjoyed have consequently -become greatly reduced, and it is only with considerable difficulty -that they are now able to acquire sufficient wealth or power to in any -measure compensate them for their misfortune. No Ghaznefér Aghà would -now be forthcoming to submit voluntarily to mutilation in order to -become chief of the white eunuchs; all those of the present day are -unwilling victims, and victims who receive no adequate compensation. -Bought or stolen as children in Abyssinia or Syria, about one in every -three survives the infamous knife, to be sold in defiance of the law, -and with a pretence of secresy far more revolting than if it were -done openly. There is no need to have them pointed out: any one can -recognize them at a glance. They are usually tall, fat, and flabby, -with smooth, colorless faces, short waists, and long legs and arms. -They wear fezzes, long black coats, and European trousers, and carry -a whip made of hippopotamus skin, their badge of office, walking with -long strides, and softly like big children. When on duty they accompany -their mistresses on foot or horseback, sometimes preceding, sometimes -following after, the carriage, either singly or in pairs, and looking -around them with an ever-watchful eye, which, at the slightest -suggestion of disrespect either by look or gesture on the part of a -passer-by, becomes so full of angry menace as to send a cold chill -down one’s backbone; but, except in some such case as this, they have -either no expression at all or else an utter weariness of everything -in the world. I cannot recollect ever having seen one of them laugh. -Some among them, while very young, look fifty years old, and others, -again, give one the impression of youths who have suddenly, in the -course of a few hours, grown into old men; many of them, sleek, soft, -and well-rounded, look like carefully-fattened animals. They wear fine -clothing, and are as scrupulously neat and redolent of perfume as some -vain young girl. There are men so heartless as to laugh in the faces -of these unhappy creatures as they pass them on the street; possibly -they imagine that, having been accustomed to it from infancy, they -are unconscious or nearly so of the gulf which divides them from the -rest of the human family. But it is perfectly well known that this is -not the case; and, indeed, who, after giving the subject a moment’s -thought, could suppose that it was? To belong to neither sex; to be -merely the phantom of a man; to live in the midst of life, and yet -not of it; to feel the billows of human passion surging all about -you and be obliged to remain cold, impassive, unmoved, like a reef -in the storm; to have your very thoughts, the natural, promptings -of your whole being, held in check by an iron band that no amount of -virtuous effort on your part will ever avail to bend or break; to -have constantly presented before your eyes a picture of happiness -toward which all around you tends, the centre about which everything -circulates, the illuminating cause of all the conditions of life, and -to know yourself immeasurably far away in the outside darkness, in a -cold immensity of space, like some wandering spirit accursed of God; -and to be, moreover, yourself the guardian of that happiness in which -you can never participate, the actual barrier which the jealousy of man -has reared between his own felicity and the outside world, the bolt -with which he makes fast his door, the cloth he uses to conceal his -treasures; to be obliged to live in the very midst of that sensuous, -perfumed existence of youth and beauty and enjoyment, with shame upon -your brow and fury in your soul, despised, set aside, without name, -without family, without a mother or so much as one tender memory, cut -off from the common ties of nature and humanity,--who could doubt -for one instant that theirs is a life of torment which the mind is -powerless to grasp, like living with a dagger thrust into one’s heart? - -And this outrage still continues: these unhappy creatures walk the -streets of a European city, live among men, and, wonderful to relate, -refrain from tearing, biting, stabbing, spitting in the face of that -cowardly humanity which dares to look them in the eye without either -shame or pity, while it busies itself with international associations -for the protection of dogs and cats! Their whole existence is nothing -but a series of tortures: as soon as the women of the harem find that -they are unwilling to connive at their intrigues, they look upon them -as spies and jailers, and hate them accordingly, punishing them by -every device of coquetry that lies in their power until they sometimes -drive them quite beyond all bounds, as in the case of the poor black -eunuch in the _Lettere persiane_, who put his mistress in the bath. The -very names they bear are a bitter irony, being called after flowers -and perfumes, in allusion to the ladies whose guardians they are, as -_possessors of hyacinths, guardians of lilies, custodians of roses and -of violets_. And sometimes, poor wretches! they fall in love and are -jealous and chafe, and become shedders of blood, or, seeing that some -ardent glance directed toward their lady is returned, they lose their -heads altogether and strike, as happened once during the Crimean War, -when a eunuch struck a French officer in the face, and had his own -head cut open in consequence by the other’s sword. Who can tell what -they suffer or how the mere sight of beauty must sometimes torture -them, a caress enrage, a smile torment them, the sound of a kiss given -and returned cause their hands to steal toward the dagger’s hilt? It -is hardly to be wondered at that in their great empty hearts little -flourishes beside the cold passions of hate, revenge, and ambition; -that they grow up embittered, cowardly, envious, and savage; that -they have either the dumb, unreasoning devotion of an animal for -their owners, or else are cunning and treacherous; or that, when they -do get into power, they use it to revenge themselves upon mankind -for the affront put upon them. The more desolate and isolated their -lot, so much the more do they seem to feel a necessity for female -companionship. Unable to be her lover, they seek to be the friend of -woman. They even marry, sometimes choosing for their wives women who -are pregnant, as Sunbullin, Ibrahim’s chief eunuch, did, so as to have -a child to love as his own, or, like the head eunuch of Ahmed II., -they have harems filled with virgins in order that they may enjoy the -contemplation and society of female loveliness; others adopt young -girls, so that in old age they may have a female breast upon which to -recline and not go down to the grave ignorant of all tenderness and -loving care, having had nothing all their lives but scorn and contempt, -or at best indifference. It is not uncommon for those who have grown -wealthy at court or in some princely establishment, where they have -combined with the duties of chief eunuch those of intendant, to -purchase in old age a pretty villa on the Bosphorus, and there to pass -the remainder of their days in feasting and gayety, seeking by these -means to blot out the recollection of their misfortune. - -Among all the various tales and anecdotes which were told me about -these unfortunate beings one stands out with peculiar clearness in -my memory. It was related by a young doctor of Pera in denial of the -statement, sometimes made, that eunuchs do not suffer. - -“One evening,” said he, “I was leaving the house of a wealthy -Mussulman, one of whose four wives was ill with heart disease; it -was my third visit, and on coming away, as well as on entering, I -was always preceded by a tall eunuch who called aloud the customary -warning, ‘Women, withdraw,’ in order that the ladies and female slaves -might know that there was a man in the harem and keep out of sight. On -reaching the courtyard the eunuch returned, leaving me to make my way -out alone. On this occasion, just as I was about to open the door, I -felt a light touch on my arm: turning around, I found, standing close -by me, another eunuch, a good-looking youth of eighteen or twenty, who -stood gazing silently at me, his eyes filled with tears. Finding that -he did not speak, I asked him what I could do for him. He hesitated a -moment, and then, clasping my hand convulsively in both of his, he said -in a hoarse voice, in which there was a ring of despair, ‘Doctor, you -know some remedy for every malady; tell me, is there none for mine?’ I -cannot express to you the effect those simple words produced upon me: -I wanted to answer him, but my voice seemed to die away, and finally, -not knowing what to do or say, I pulled the door open and fled. But all -that night and for many days after I kept seeing his face and hearing -those mournful words; and I can tell you that more than once I could -feel the tears rising at the recollection.” - -Philanthropists, journalists, ministers, ambassadors, and you, -gentlemen, deputies to the Stambul Parliament and senators of the -Crescent, raise an outcry in God’s name that this hideous ignominy, -this black stain on the honor of mankind, may in the twentieth century -be merely another dreadful memory like the Bulgarian atrocities. - - -THE ARMY. - -[Illustration: Types of Turkish Soldiers.] - -Although I was fully aware before going to Constantinople that no -traces of the magnificent army of former days were still to be seen, -nevertheless, as soldiers are always a source of lively interest to -me, I had no sooner arrived than I began to look about for them with -eager curiosity. What I found, however, fell short of even what I -had been led to expect. In place of the ancient costume, flowing, -picturesque, and eminently warlike, they have adopted an ugly, forlorn -uniform, consisting of red trousers, little scant jackets, stripes -like a lackey’s livery, belts like those of college students, and -on every head, from the Sultan’s down to the lowest man in the ranks, -that miserable fez, which, besides being undignified and puerile, -especially when perched on the head of a big, stout Mussulman, is the -direct cause of any amount of ophthalmia and headache. The brilliancy -of the Turkish army is lost, without any of that which belongs to the -European military having been gained. The soldiers looked to me a -mournful, half-hearted, dirty set of men. They may be brave, but they -are certainly not impressive; and as to the nature of their training, -one may form some idea of that from seeing officers and men employing -their fingers in the street in place of handkerchiefs. One day I saw -the soldier on guard at the bridge, where smoking is not allowed, bring -this fact to the knowledge of a vice-consul by snatching the cigar out -of his mouth; and on another occasion, in the mosque of the Dancing -Dervishes, on the Rue de Pera, a soldier informed three Europeans -that they were expected to uncover by knocking their hats off before -my eyes: I knew very well that to raise a protesting voice on such -occasions would mean nothing less than being seized and carried off -bodily, like a bundle of old rags, to the guard-house. Hence throughout -my entire stay at Constantinople my attitude toward the military was -one of profound deference. On the other hand, one ceases to wonder -at the uncouthness of the soldiers after seeing what sort of people -they are before donning the uniform. One day in Skutari a hundred or -so recruits, probably brought from the interior of Asia Minor, passed -close by me, and it was a sight which aroused both my compassion and my -disgust. They looked like those terrible bandits of Hassin the Mad who -passed through Constantinople toward the close of the sixteenth century -on their way to die by the Austrian cannon on the plain of Pesth. I -can see before me now their wild, sinister faces, rough shocks of -hair, half-naked, tattooed bodies, and barbarous ornaments, and I seem -to smell again the close, sickening odor, like that of wild animals’ -dens, which they left behind them in the street. When the first news -was brought of the massacres in Bulgaria, at once my thoughts turned -to them. “My Skutari friends, beyond a doubt,” I said to myself. It is -a fact, however, that they form the one solitary picturesque feature -which I am able to recall of the Mussulman army. - -O glorious pageant of Bayezid, of Suleiman, of Muhammad! could one but -behold you just once from the walls of Stambul, drawn up in glittering -array upon the plain of Daûd Pasha! Every time I passed the triumphal -gate of Adrianapolis I would be haunted by this brilliant vision, and -pause to gaze fixedly at the opening, as though expecting each moment -to see the pasha quartermaster come forth, heralding the approach of -the imperial troops. - -It was, in fact, the pasha quartermaster who marched at the head of -the army, with two horse-tails, his insignia of rank, while behind him -for a great distance flashed and glistened in the sunlight certain -objects which were nothing less than the eight thousand brazen spoons -fastened in the folds of the Janissaries’ turbans; in their midst could -be seen the waving herons’ plumes and glittering armor of the colonels, -followed by a crowd of servants laden with arms and provisions. Behind -the Janissaries came a small troop of volunteers and pages dressed in -silk, with iron mail, and shining head-pieces, accompanied by a band of -music; after them, the cannoneers, with the cannon fastened together -by means of metal chains; and then another small band of aghas, pages, -chamberlains, and feudal soldiers, mounted on steeds with plumes -and breast-plates. All of these were only the advance-guard, above -whose closely-packed ranks floated thousands of brilliantly colored -standards, waving horse-tails, and such a sea of lances, swords, -bows, quivers, and arquebuses that it was not easy to distinguish the -lines of swarthy faces burned by exposure in the Candian and Persian -wars; accompanying them was the discordant sound of drum and flute, -of trombone and kettledrum, mingling with the voices of the singers -who escorted the Janissaries, and, with the rattle of arms, clanking -of chains, and hoarse cries of Allah, forming a mighty roar, at once -inspiriting and terrible, which could be heard from the Daûd Pasha -camp to the other bank of the Golden Horn. O poets and painters, you -who have dwelt with loving touch upon every picturesque detail of that -vanished life of the Orient! come to my aid now, that together we may -recall to life the Third Muhammad’s famous army and send it forth, -brilliant and complete, from the ancient walls of Stambul. - -Passed the advance-guard, we see another glittering body of troops. -Is it the Sultan? No, as yet the deity has barely quitted his temple. -This is only the favorite vizier’s retinue, consisting of forty aghas -clad in sable, and mounted upon horses caparisoned with velvet and -with silver bits in their mouths; behind them are a crowd of pages and -gorgeous grooms, leading other forty horses by the bridle, with gilded -harness, and laden with shields, maces, and cimeters. - -Another troop advances. This is not the Sultan, either, but a body -of state officials--the chief treasurer, members of the council, and -the high dignitaries of the Seraglio--and with them a band of players -and a throng of volunteers wearing purple caps decorated with birds’ -wings and dressed in furs, scarlet silk, leopard skins, and Hungarian -_kolpaks_, armed with long lances entwined with silk and garlands of -flowers. - -Still another sparkling wave of horsemen pours out of the Adrianapolis -gate, but it is not the Sultan yet. This is the train of the grand -vizier. First comes a crowd of mounted arquebusiers, _furieri_, and -aghas, all high in favor with the Grand Seigneur; after them forty -aghas of the grand vizier, surrounded by a forest of twelve hundred -bamboo lances, borne by twelve hundred pages, and then the forty pages -of the grand vizier clad in orange color and armed with bows, their -quivers richly ornamented with gold. Following them are two hundred -more youths, divided into six bands, each band having a distinctive -color, and, riding in their midst, the governors and relatives of the -chief minister; after these come a throng of grooms, armor-bearers, -employés, servants, pages, and aghas, wearing gold-embroidered -garments, and a troop of standard-bearers carrying aloft a multitude of -silken flags; and last the _kiâya_, minister of the interior, escorted -by twelve _sciau_, or legal executioners, followed by the grand -vizier’s band. - -Another host pours out from the city-walls, and still it is not the -Sultan, but a throng of _sciau_, _furieri_, and underlings, gorgeously -attired and forming the retinues of the jurisconsults, the _molla_ -and _muderri_; close behind them are the head-masters of the falcon, -vulture, hawk, and kite hunts, followed by a line of horsemen -carrying on their saddles leopards trained for the chase, and a crowd -of falconers, esquires, grooms with ferrets, standard-bearers, and -drummers, and packs of caparisoned and bejewelled dogs. - -Another brilliant concourse sweeps out: the crowds of spectators -prostrate themselves. At last the Sultan? No, not yet. This is not -the head of the army, but its heart, the holy flame of courage and -religious enthusiasm, the sacred ark of the Mussulman, around which -mountains of decapitated heads have been reared, torrents of human -blood have flowed--the green ensign of the Prophet, the flag among -flags, taken from its place in the mosque of Sultan Ahmed, and now -floating in the midst of a ferocious mob of dervishes clad in lion and -bear skins, a circle of rapt-looking preaching sheikhs in camel’s-hair -cloaks, and two companies of emirs, descendants of the Prophet, wearing -the green turban; all of whom together raise a hoarse clamor of shouts, -prayers, shrill cries, and singing. - -Another imposing troop of horsemen herald the approach, not of the -Sultan yet, but of the judiciary, the judge of Constantinople and chief -judge of Asia and Europe, whose enormous turbans may be seen towering -above the heads of the sciau, who brandish their silver maces to clear -a space for them through the crowd. With them ride the favorite vizier -and vizier kaimakâm, their turbans decorated with silver stars and -braided with gold; all the viziers of the Divan, before whom are borne -horse-tails dyed with henné, attached to the ends of long red and -blue poles; and last of all the military judges, followed by a train -of attendants dressed in leopard skins and armed with lances--pages, -armor-bearers, and sutlers. - -The next company pours out, glittering, magnificent. Surely the Sultan? -No--the grand vizier, wearing a purple caftan lined with sable and -mounted upon a horse fairly covered with steel and gold, he is followed -by a throng of attendants clad in red velvet, and a crowd of high -dignitaries, and the lieutenant-generals of the Janissaries, among whom -the _muftis_ shine out like swans in the midst of a flock of peacocks; -after these, between two lines of spearmen carrying gilded spears and -two lines of archers with crescent-shaped plumes, come the gorgeous -grooms of the Seraglio, leading by the bridle a long file of horses -from Arabia, Turkestan, Persia, and Caramania, their saddles of velvet, -reins gilded, stirrups chased, and trappings covered with silver -spangles, and laden with shields and arms glittering with jewels; -finally the two sacred camels are seen, bearing one the Koran, the -other a fragment of the Kaaba. - -The grand vizier’s retinue has passed, and a deafening clamor of drums -and trumpets assails the ear. The spectators fly in every direction, -cannon roar, a multitude of running footmen pour through the gate -brandishing their cimeters, and here at last, in the midst of a thick -forest of spears, plumes, and swords, the central point of those -dazzling ranks of gold and silver head-pieces, beneath a cloud of -waving satin banners, behold the Sultan of sultans, King of kings, -the dispenser of thrones to the princes of the world, the shadow of -God upon earth, emperor and sovereign lord of the White Sea and of -the Black, of Rumelia and Anatolia, of the province of Salkadr, of -Diarbekr, of Kurdistan, Aderbigian, Agiem, Sciam, Haleb, Egypt, Mecca, -Medina, Jerusalem, the coasts of Arabia and Yemen, together with all -the other dominions conquered by the arms of his mighty predecessors -and august ancestors or subdued by his own flaming and triumphant -sword. The solemn and imposing train sweeps slowly by. Now and again, -the serried columns swaying a little to right or left, a glimpse is -caught of the three jewelled plumes which surmount the turban of -the deity, the serious, pallid countenance, the breast blazing with -diamonds; then the ranks close in once more, the cavalcade passes on, -the threatening cimeters are lowered, the bystanders raise their bowed -heads, the vision disappears. - -After the imperial retinue a crowd of court officials come, one -carrying on his head the Sultan’s stool, another his sabre, another his -turban, another his mantle, a fifth the silver coffee-pot, a sixth the -golden coffee-pot; then more troops of pages, and after them the white -eunuchs; then three hundred mounted chamberlains in white caftans, and -the hundred carriages of the harem with silvered wheels, drawn by oxen -hung with garlands of flowers or horses with velvet trappings, and -escorted by a troop of black eunuchs; then three hundred mules file by -laden with baggage and treasures from the court; after them a thousand -camels carrying water and a thousand dromedaries laden with provisions; -next a crowd of miners, armorers, and workmen of various kinds from -Stambul, accompanied by a rabble of buffoons and conjurers; and finally -the bulk of the fighting ranks of the army--hordes of Janissaries, -yellow _silidars_, purple _azabs_, _spahis_ with red ensigns, foreign -cavalry with white standards, cannon that belch forth blocks of lead -and marble, the feudal soldiery from three continents, barbarian -volunteers from the outlying provinces of the empire, seas of flags, -forests of plumes, torrents of turbans--an iron avalanche on its way to -overrun Europe like a curse sent from God, in whose track will be found -nothing but a desert strewn with smoking ruins and heaps of skulls. - - -IDLENESS. - -Although at certain hours of the day Constantinople wears an air of -bustle and activity, in reality it is probably the laziest city in -Europe, and in this respect both Turk and Frank meet on common ground. -Every one begins by getting up at the latest possible hour in the -morning. Even in summer, at a time when our cities are up and doing -from one end to the other Constantinople is still buried in slumber. -It is difficult to find a shop open or so much as to procure a cup -of coffee until the sun is well up in the heavens. Hotels, offices, -bazârs, banks, all snore together in one joyous chorus, and nothing -short of a cannon would arouse them. Then the holidays! The Turks keep -Friday, the Jews Saturday, and the Christians Sunday, besides which -regular weekly ones are all the feast-days of the innumerable saints -of the Greek and Armenian calendars, which are scrupulously observed; -and although all of these holidays are supposed to affect only certain -parts of the community respectively, in reality they provide large -numbers, with whom, properly speaking, they have nothing whatever to -do, with an excuse for being idle. You can thus form some idea of the -amount of work accomplished in the course of a week. There are some -offices which are only open twenty-four hours in the seven days. Each -day some one of the five nationalities who go to make up the population -of Constantinople is rambling about over the big city with no other -object in the world than to kill time. In this art, however, the Turk -yields to none. He can make a cup of coffee, costing two sous, last -half a day, and sit immovable for five hours at a stretch at the foot -of a cypress tree in one of the innumerable cemeteries. His indolence -is a thing absolute and complete, an inertia resembling death or sleep, -in which all the faculties seem to be suspended--an utter absence of -any sort of emotion, a phase of existence completely unknown among -Europeans. Turks dislike so much as to have the idea of movement -presented to their minds. At Stambul, for instance, where there are no -public walks, it is extremely unlikely that the Turks would frequent -them if there were: to go to a place designed expressly for the purpose -of being walked about in would, to their way of thinking, resemble work -entirely too much. They enter the nearest cemetery or turn down the -first street they come to, and follow, without any objective point, -wherever their legs or the windings of the path or the people ahead -may lead them. A Turk rarely goes to any spot merely for the purpose -of seeing it. There are those among them, living in Stambul, who have -never been farther than Kassim Pasha; Mussulman gentlemen who have -never gotten beyond the Isles of the Princes, where they happen to -have a friend living, or their own villa on the Bosphorus. For them -the height of bliss consists in complete inactivity of body and mind; -hence they abandon to the restless Christian all those great industries -which require care and thought and travelling about from one place -to another, and content themselves with such small trades as can be -conducted sitting down in the same spot, and where sight can almost -take the place of speech. Labor, which with us governs and regulates -all the conditions of life, is a thing of quite secondary importance -there, subordinated to what is pleasant and convenient. We look upon -repose as a necessary interruption to work, while to them work is -merely a suspension of repose. The first object, at all costs, is -to sleep, dream, and smoke for a certain number of hours out of the -twenty-four; whatever time is left over may be employed in gaining -one’s livelihood. Time, as understood by the Turks, signifies something -altogether different from what it does to us. The hour, day, month, -year, has not a hundredth part of the value there that it has in other -parts of Europe. The very shortest period required by any official of -the Turkish government in which to answer the simplest form of inquiry -is two weeks. These people do not know what it is to desire to finish -a thing for the mere pleasure of having done with it, and, with the -single exception of the porters, one never sees a Turk employed on any -business hurrying in the streets of Stambul. All walk with the same -measured tread, as though their steps were regulated by the beat of a -single drum. With us life is a seething torrent; with them, a sleeping -pool. - -[Illustration: A Turkish Official.] - - -NIGHT. - -As by day Constantinople is the most brilliant, so by night it is the -gloomiest, city in Europe. Occasional street-lamps, placed at long -distances one from the other, hardly suffice to pierce the gloom of -the principal streets, while the others are as black as caves, and -not to be ventured into by one who carries no light in his hand. -Hence by nightfall the city is practically deserted: the only signs -of life are the night-watchmen, prowling dogs, the skulking figure of -some law-breaker, parties of young men coming out of a subterranean -tavern, and mysterious lights which appear and vanish again like _ignis -fatui_ down some narrow side-street or in a distant cemetery. This -is the hour in which to look at Stambul from the heights of Pera or -Galata. Each one of her innumerable little windows is illuminated, -and, with the lights from the shipping, reflections in the water and -the starry heavens, helps to light up four miles of horizon with a -great quivering sea of sparkling points of fire, in which port, city, -and sky melt imperceptibly one into another until they all seem to be -part of one starry firmament. When it is cloudy, and through a break -the moon appears, you see above the dark mass of the city, above the -inky blots which mark the woods and gardens, the glittering rows of -domes surmounting the imperial mosques, shining in the moonlight -like great marble tombs, and suggesting the idea of a necropolis of -giants. But most impressive of all is the view when there is neither -moon nor star nor any light at all. Then one immense black shadow -stretches from Seraglio Point to Eyûb, a great dark profile, the hills -looking like mountains and their many pointed summits assuming all -manner of fantastic shapes--forests and armies, ruined castles, rocky -fortresses--so that one’s imagination travels off into the region of -dreams and fairy tales. Gazing across at Stambul on some such night as -this from a lofty terrace in Pera, one’s brain plays all sorts of mad -pranks. In fancy you are carried into the great shadowy city; wander -through those myriad harems, illuminated by soft, subdued lights: -behold the triumphant beauty of the favorite, the dull despair of the -neglected wife; watch the eunuch who hangs trembling and impotent -outside the door; follow a pair of lovers as they thread some steep -winding byway; wander through the deserted galleries of the Grand -Bazâr; traverse the great silent cemeteries; lose yourself amid the -interminable rows of columns in the subterranean cisterns; imagine -that you have been shut up in the gigantic mosque of Suleiman, and -make its shadowy corridors echo again with lamentations and shrieks of -terror, tearing your hair and invoking the mercy of the Almighty; and -then suddenly exclaim, “What utter nonsense! I am here on my friend -Santoro’s terrace, and in the room below there not only awaits me a -supper for a sybarite, but a gathering of the most amusing wits in Pera -to help me eat it.” - - -CONSTANTINOPLE LIFE. - -Every evening a large number of Italians gathered at the house of my -good friend Santoro--lawyers, artists, doctors, and merchants--among -whom I passed many a delightful hour. How the conversation flowed! -Had I only understood stenography, I might easily have collected the -materials for a delightful book out of the various anecdotes and bits -of gossip told there night after night. The doctor, who had just been -called to a patient in the harem; the painter, who was employed upon -a pasha’s portrait somewhere on the Bosphorus; the lawyer, who was -arguing a case before a tribunal; the high official, who had knotted -the threads of an international love-affair,--each separate experience -as they related it formed a complete and highly entertaining sketch -illustrative of Oriental manners and customs. Each fresh arrival is -the signal for something new. “Have you heard the news?” one exclaims -on entering: “the government has just paid the employés’ salaries, due -for over three months, and Galata is flooded with copper money.” Then -another arrives: “What do you suppose happened this morning? The Sultan -got mad at the minister of finance and threw an inkstand at his head!” -A third tells a story of a Turkish president of a tribunal. Provoked, -it seems, by the wretched arguments employed by an unscrupulous French -lawyer in defending a bad cause, he paid him this pretty compliment -before the entire audience: “My dear advocate, it is really quite -useless for you to take so much pains to try to make your case appear -good. ----;” And here he pronounced Cambronne’s word in full: “no -matter how you may turn and twist it, it is still----,” and he said it -again. - -The conversation naturally covered geographical ground quite new to me. -They used the same easy familiarity in talking of persons and events in -Tiflis, Trebizond, Teheran, and Damascus as we do when it is a question -of Paris, Vienna, or Geneva, in any one of which places they had -friends or had lately been or were about going themselves. I seemed to -be in the centre of another world, with new horizons opening out on all -sides, and it was difficult to avoid a sinking feeling at the thought -of the time when I would be obliged to take up once more the narrow and -contracted routine of my ordinary life. “How will it ever be possible,” -I would ask myself, “to settle down again to those commonplace -occupations and threadbare topics?” This is the way every one feels -who has spent any time in Constantinople. After leading the life of -that place, all others must necessarily appear flat and colorless. -Existence there is easier, gayer, more youthful than in any other -city in Europe; it is as though one were encamped upon foreign soil, -surrounded by an endless succession of strange and unexpected sights, -an ever-changing, shifting scene which leaves upon one’s mind such a -sense of the instability and uncertainty of all things human that you -end by adopting something of the fatalistic creed of the Mussulman or -else the reckless indifference of the adventurer. - -The apathy of that people is something incredible; they live, as a -poet has said, in a sort of intimate familiarity with death, looking -upon life as a pilgrimage too short to attempt, even were it worth -their while anyhow, great undertakings requiring long and sustained -effort; and sooner or later this fatalism attacks the European as -well, inducing him to live in a certain sense from day to day, without -troubling himself more than necessary about the future, and playing -in the world, so far as lies in his power, the simple and reposeful -part of a spectator. Then the constant intercourse with so many -nationalities, whose language you must speak and whose views to a -certain extent you must adopt, does away with many of those fixed rules -and conventionalities which have in our countries become iron-bound -laws governing society, and whose observance or non-observance causes -endless vexations and heartburnings. - -The Mussulman population forms of itself a never-ending source of -interest and curiosity, always at hand to be seen and studied, and so -stimulating and enlivening to the imagination as to drive away all -thought of ennui. The very plan of Constantinople helps to this end. -Where in other cities the eye and mind are almost always imprisoned, -as it were, in one street or narrow circuit, there every step presents -a new outlet through which both may roam over immeasurable distances -of space and scenes of entrancing beauty, and, finally, there is the -absolute freedom of that life, governed by no one set of customs. One -can do absolutely as he pleases; nothing is looked upon as out of the -way, and the most astounding performances hardly cause a ripple of -talk, forgotten almost as soon as told in that huge moral anarchy. -Europeans live there in a sort of republican confederacy, enjoying a -freedom from all restraint such as would only be possible in one of -their own cities during some period of disorder. It is like a continual -Carnival, a perpetual Shrove Tuesday, and it is this, even more than -her beauty, which endears Constantinople so greatly to the foreigner, -so that, thinking of her after long absence, one experiences a feeling -almost amounting to home-sickness; while those Europeans who have -made their homes there strike down deep roots and become as devotedly -attached to her as her legitimate sons. The Turks are certainly not far -wrong when they call her “the enchantress of a thousand lovers,” or -say in their proverb that for him who has once drunk of the waters of -Top-Khâneh there is no cure--he is infatuated for life. - - -THE ITALIANS. - -The Italian colony at Constantinople, while it is one of the most -numerous, is far from being the most prosperous there. It numbers among -it but few rich persons, and many who are wretchedly poor, especially -those who come from Southern Italy and are unable to find work: it is -also the colony most poorly represented by the press, when indeed it -is represented at all, its newspapers only making their appearance -to promptly vanish again. When I was there the colony was awaiting -the issue of the _Levantino_, and meanwhile a sample copy was put in -circulation setting forth the academic titles and personal gifts of the -editor: I made out seventy-seven in all, without counting modesty. - -One should walk down the Rue de Pera of a Sunday morning, when the -Italian families are on their way to mass: you hear every dialect -in Italy. Sometimes I used to enjoy it, but not always: it was too -depressing to see so many of one’s fellow-countrymen homeless wanderers -on the face of the earth; many of them, too, must have been cast up -on those shores by storms of misfortune and strange, uncomfortable -adventures. And then the old people who would never see Italy again; -the children in whose ears that name meant nothing more than a -place--dear, no doubt, but distant and unknown; and those young girls, -many of whom must inevitably marry men of other nationalities and -found families in which nothing Italian will survive beyond a proper -name or two and the fond memories of the mother. I encountered pretty -Genoese, looking as though they might just have come down from the -gardens of Acquasola; charming Neapolitan faces; graceful little heads -which I seemed to have seen a hundred times beneath the porticoes of -Po or the Milanese arcades. I felt like gathering them all into a -bunch, tying them together with rose-colored ribbons, and marching them -two by two on shipboard, conveying them back to Italy at the rate of -fifteen knots an hour. I would also have liked to take back with me, -as a curiosity, a sample of the language spoken by those born in the -Italian colony, especially those of the third or fourth generation. A -Crusca academician, on hearing it, would have taken to his bed with a -raging fever. A language formed by mingling the Italian spoken by a -Piedmontese doorkeeper, a Lombardy hack-driver, and a Romagnol porter -would, I think, be less outrageous than that spoken on the banks of the -Golden Horn. It is Italian which, impure at the outset, has been mixed -with four or five other languages, each impure in their turn; and the -most singular part of it is that in the midst of all these barbarisms -you suddenly come plump upon some such scholarly word or phrase as -_puote_, _imperocche_, _a ogni pie sospiuto_, _havvi_, _puossi_, -witnesses to the efforts made by some of our worthy compatriots, who -by dipping into anthologies seek to preserve the _celestial Tuscan -speech_. But, as compared with the rest, these might well lay claim, as -Cesari said, to a reputation for using choice language. Some of them -can hardly be understood at all. One day I was being escorted, I don’t -remember just where, by an Italian youth of sixteen or seventeen, a -friend of a friend of mine, who was born in Pera. As we walked along I -began asking him some questions, but soon found that he did not want -to talk; he answered me in a low tone and as shortly as possible, -growing red in the face as he did so and hanging his head; he was so -evidently unhappy that I presently asked him what it was that troubled -him so much. “Oh,” said he with a despairing sigh, “I talk so badly!” -As we continued our conversation I found that he spoke indeed a strange -dialect, full of outlandish words and strongly resembling the so-called -Frank language, which, as a French wit once said, consists in pouring -out as rapidly as possible a quantity of Italian, French, Spanish, and -Greek nouns and tenses until you happen to strike one the listener -understands. It is, however, seldom necessary to go to so much trouble -in Pera or Galata, where almost every one, including the Turks, can -speak, or at least understand, some Italian, though this language, -if you can call it a language, is almost exclusively a spoken one, if -you can call it speaking. The tongue generally employed for writing -is French. Of Italian literature there is none. I recollect on one -solitary occasion, in a Galata café crowded with merchants, finding at -the foot of the commercial intelligence and quotations of the Bourse, -printed in French and Italian, eight mournful little verses all about -zephyrs and stars and sighs. Unhappy poet! it seemed as though I could -see you before me, buried beneath huge piles of merchandise, composing -those verses with your last breath. - - -THE THEATRES. - -Any one who is blessed with a pretty strong stomach can pass his -evenings while at Constantinople at the play: he may, moreover, choose -among quite a number of almost equally wretched little theatres of -various sorts, many of which are beer-gardens and wine-shops as well. -At some one of these one can always find the Italian comedy, or -rather a troupe of Italian actors, whose efforts frequently make one -wish the whole arena could be converted into a vegetable market. The -Turks, however, frequent by preference those theatres in which certain -bare-necked, brazen-faced, painted French women sing light songs to -the accompaniment of a wretched orchestra. One of these theatres was -the Alhambra, situated in the Grande Rue de Pera: it consisted of a -long apartment, always crowded to the utmost, and red with fezzes from -stage to entrance. The nature of those songs, and the bold gestures -which those intrepid ladies employed in order to make their meaning -perfectly clear, no one could either imagine or credit unless indeed he -had been to the _Capellanes_ at Madrid. At anything especially coarse -or impudent all those great fat Turks, seated in long lines, broke -into loud roars of laughter, and then the habitual mask of dignity -and reserve would drop from their faces, exposing the depths of their -real nature and every secret of their grossly sensual lives. There is -nothing that the Turk conceals so habitually and effectually as the -sensual nature of his tastes and manner of life. He never appears in -public accompanied by a woman, rarely looks at, and never speaks to, -one, and considers it almost an insult to be inquired of concerning -his wives. Judging merely by outside appearances, one would take this -to be the most austere and straitlaced people in the world, but it is -only in appearance. The same Turk who colors to the tips of his ears -if one so much as asks if his wife is well, sends his boys, and his -girls too, to listen to the coarse jests of _Kara-gyuz_, corrupting -their minds before their senses are fairly awakened, while he himself -is fully capable of abandoning the peaceful enjoyments of his own -harem for such excesses as Bayezid the Thunderbolt set the first -example of, and Mahmûd the Reformer was doubtless not the last to -follow. And, indeed, were proof needed of the profound corruption which -lurks beneath this mask of seeming austerity, one need go no farther -than to that selfsame _Kara-gyuz_. It is a grotesque caricature of a -middle-class Turk, a sort of _ombra chinese_, whose head, arms, and -legs are made to accompany with appropriate gestures the developments -of some extravagant burlesque having usually a love-intrigue for its -plot. The marionette is worked behind a transparent curtain, and -resembles a depraved Pulcinello, coarse, cynical, and cunning. Sensual -as a satyr, foul-mouthed as a fishwife, he throws his audience into -paroxysms of laughter and enthusiasm by every sort of indecent jest and -extravagant gesture. Before the censorship curbed to some small extent -the hitherto unbridled looseness of this performance, the figure was -made to give visible proof of its corporeal resemblance to Priapus, and -not infrequently upon this lofty and elevating point the whole plot -hinged. - - -TURKISH COOKING. - -Wishing to investigate for myself the Turkish manner of cooking, I got -my good friends of Pera to take me to a restaurant _ad hoc_ where every -kind of Turkish dish is to be had, from the most delicious delicacies -of the Seraglio to camel’s meat prepared as the Arabians eat it, -and horseflesh dressed according to the Turkoman fashion. Santoro -ordered the breakfast, severely Turkish from the opening course to the -fruit, and I, invoking the names of all those intrepid spirits who -have faced death in the cause of science, conscientiously swallowed a -part of each without so much as a groan. There were upward of twenty -dishes, the Turks being a good deal like children in their liking to -peck at a quantity of different kinds of food, rather than satisfy -their appetite with a few solid dishes. Shepherds of the day before -yesterday, they seem to disdain a simple table as though it were a -trait of rustic niggardliness. I cannot give a clear account of each -dish, many of them being now no more than a vague and sinister memory. -I do, however, remember the _kibab_, which consisted of little scraps -of mutton roasted on the coals, seasoned with a great deal of pepper -and cloves, and served on two soft, greasy biscuits--a dish not to be -named among the lesser sins. I can also recall vividly the odor of -the _pilav_, the _sine quâ non_ of a Turkish meal, consisting of rice -and mutton, meaning to the Turk what maccaroni does to the Neapolitan -or _cuscussu_ to the Arab or _puchero_ to the Spaniard. I have not -forgotten either--and it is the sole pleasant memory connected with -that repast--the _rosh’ab_, which is sipped with a spoon at the end of -the meal: it is composed of raisins, plums, apples, cherries, and other -fruits, cooked in water with a great deal of sugar, and flavored with -essence of musk, citron, and rose-water. Then there were numberless -other preparations of mutton and lamb, cut in small pieces and boiled -until no flavor remained; fish swimming in oil; rice-balls wrapped -in grape-leaves; sugar syrups; salads served in pastry; compôtes; -conserves; sauces, flavored with every sort of aromatic herb--a list -as long as the articles of the penal code for relapsed criminals; and -finally the masterpiece of some Arabian pastry-cook, a huge dish of -sweetmeats, among which were conspicuous a steamboat, a fierce-looking -lion, and a sugar house with grated windows. When all was over I felt a -good deal as though I had swallowed the contents of a pharmacist’s shop -or assisted at one of those feasts which children prepare with powdered -brickdust, chopped grass, and stale fruit--not unattractive-looking -when seen at a distance. All the dishes are served rapidly, four or -five at a time. The Turks dive into each with their fingers, the knife -and spoon only, being in common use among them, and one drinking-goblet -serves for the whole company, the waiter keeping it constantly filled -with flavored water. - -These customs, however, were not followed by the party who were -breakfasting at the table adjoining ours. They were evidently Turks -who valued their ease, even to the extent of poising their slippers -upon the table: each had a plate to himself, and they plied their -forks very skilfully, drinking liquors freely in despite of Mahomet. I -observed, moreover, that they failed to kiss the bread before beginning -to eat, as every good Mussulman should, and that more than one longing -glance was sent in the direction of our bottles, although the muftis -pronounce it a sin to so much as cast the eye upon a bottle of wine. -There is, indeed, no doubt that this “father of abominations,” one -drop of which is sufficient to bring down upon the head of the sinning -Mussulman the “curses of every angel in heaven and earth,” gains new -disciples among the Turks every day, and that nothing but the fear of -public opinion prevents its open use. Were a thick cloud to descend -upon Constantinople some day, and after an hour suddenly be lifted, I -have little doubt that the sun would surprise fifty thousand Turks, -each one in the act of lifting the bottle to his lips. In this, as in -almost every other shortcoming of the Turks, it was the sultans who -were the stone of stumbling and rock of offence. Singular to relate, -it is that very dynasty which rules over a people among whom it is -considered a sin in the sight of God to drink wine at all, which has -produced more drunkards than any other line of rulers in Europe; so -sweet is forbidden fruit even in the estimation of the “shadow of God -upon earth.” It was, we are told, Bayezid I. who headed the long list -of imperial tipplers, and here, as in the case of the first sin, woman -was the temptress, the wife of this Bayezid, a daughter of the king of -Servia, offering her husband his first glass of Tokay. Next Bayezid -II. got intoxicated on Cypress and Schiraz wines; then the selfsame -Suleiman I. who fired every ship in the port of Constantinople that -was laden with wine, and poured molten lead down the throats of those -who drank the forbidden liquor, himself died when drunk, shot by one -of his own archers. Then comes Selim II., surnamed the _messth_ (sot), -whose debauches lasted three days, and during whose reign men of the -law and men of religion drank openly. In vain did Muhammad III. thunder -against this “abomination devised by Satan;” in vain did Ahmed I. close -all the taverns and destroy every wine-press in Stambul; in vain did -Murad IV. patrol the city accompanied by an executioner, who beheaded -in his presence every unfortunate whose breath witnessed against him, -while he himself, ferocious hypocrite that he was, staggered about the -apartments of the seraglio like any common frequenter of the pothouse. -Since his day the bottle, like some gay little black imp, has crept -into the seraglio, lurks in the bazâr, hides beneath the pillow of the -soldier, thrusts its little silver or purple neck from beneath the -divan of the beauty, and, crossing the threshold of the very mosques -themselves, has stained the yellow pages of the Koran with sacrilegious -drops. - -[Illustration: Turbeh of Sultan Selim II in St. Sophia.] - - -MOHAMMED. - -Speaking of religion, while wandering about the streets and byways of -Constantinople I used often to wonder whether, were it not for the -voice of the muezzin, Christians would see anything to remind them -that there was any difference between the religion of this people -and their own. The Byzantine architecture of the mosques makes them -seem very like churches; of the Islam rites there is no external -evidence; while Turkish soldiers may be seen escorting the viaticum -through the streets. An uneducated Christian might remain a year in -Constantinople without being aware that Mohammed, not Christ, claimed -the allegiance of the greater part of the population; and this led me -on to reflect upon the slight nature of the fundamental difference--the -blade of grass, as the Abyssinian Christians called it in speaking -to the first followers of Mohammed--which divides the two religions, -and the trifling cause which led Arabia to adopt Islamism instead of -Christianity, or, if not Christianity, at all events something so -closely resembling it that, even had it never developed into that -outright, it would have seriously altered the destinies of the entire -Eastern world. This slight cause was nothing more or less than the -voluptuous nature of a certain handsome young Arabian, tall, fair, -ardent, with black eyes and musical voice--he lacked the force to -dominate his own passions, and so, instead of cutting at the root of -his people’s prevailing sin, he contented himself with pruning the -branches, and in lieu of proclaiming conjugal unity as he proclaimed -the unity of God, merely confined within somewhat narrower bounds, and -then proceeded to give the countenance of religion to, the dissolute -selfishness of men. No doubt he would have had to encounter a more -determined opposition in the one case than in the other, but that it -was in his power to succeed who can question when it is remembered -that in order to establish the worship of one sole God among a people -given over to idolatry he was obliged to first overthrow an enormous -superstructure of tradition and superstition, including innumerable -grants and privileges all closely interlaced, the result of centuries -of growth, and that he made them accept, as one of the dogmas of his -religion for which millions of believers subsequently died, a paradise -which at its first announcement aroused a universal feeling of scorn -and indignation? Unfortunately, however, this handsome young Arab -temporized with his passions, and as a consequence the face of half -the globe is changed, since polygamy was, without doubt, the besetting -vice of his rule and the principal cause of the decadence of all those -races who have adopted his religion. It is the degradation of one sex -for the benefit of the other, the open sanction of a glaring injustice -which disturbs the entire course of human rights, corrupts the rich, -oppresses the poor, encourages ignorance, breaks up the family, and by -causing endless complications in the rights of birth among the reigning -dynasties overturns kingdoms and states, finally placing an insuperable -barrier in the way of the union of Mussulman society with the people -of other faiths who populate the East. If, to return to the original -proposition, that handsome young Arab had only been endowed with a -little more strength of character, had the spiritual in his nature but -outweighed, by ever so small an amount, the animal, who knows?--perhaps -we would now have an Orient orderly, well-governed, and the world be a -century nearer universal civilization. - - -RAMAZAN. - -Happening to be in Constantinople in the month of Ramazân, the ninth -month in the Turkish calendar, in which the twenty-eight days’ fast -falls, I was able to enjoy every evening a spectacle so exceedingly -comical that I think it merits a description. Throughout the entire -fast the Turks are forbidden to eat, drink, or smoke from sunrise to -sunset. Most of them make it up by feasting all night, but as long as -the sun is shining the rule is very generally observed, and no one -dares, in public at any rate, to transgress it. - -One morning my friend and I went to call upon a friend of ours, a young -aide-de-camp of the Sultan, who prided himself upon his liberal views. -We found him in one of the rooms on the ground floor of the imperial -palace with a cup of coffee in his hand. “Why,” said Yunk, “how do -you dare to drink coffee hours after sunrise?” The young man shrugged -his shoulders, and remarked carelessly that he did not care a fig for -Ramazân or the fast; but just at that moment, a door near by suddenly -opening, he was in such a hurry to hide the telltale cup that half -its contents were spilled at his feet. One can readily imagine from -this incident how rigorously all those must abstain whose entire day -is passed beneath the public eye, the boatmen for instance. To get a -really good idea of it one should stand on the Sultan Validéh bridge at -about sunset. What with the boats at the landings and those which are -going from one place to another, the ones near at hand and those in the -distance, there must be very nearly a thousand in sight. Every boatman -has fasted since sunrise, and by this time is ravenously hungry. His -supper is all ready in the käik, and his eyes travel constantly from -it to where the sun is nearing the horizon, and then back again, while -he has the restless, uneasy air of a wild animal who paces about his -cage as the feeding-hour approaches. Sunset is announced by the firing -of a gun, and until that signal is heard not so much as a crumb of -bread or drop of water crosses the lips of one of them. Sometimes in a -retired spot in the Golden Horn we would try to induce our boatman to -eat something, but the invariable answer was, “Jok! jok! jok!” (No! no! -no!), accompanied by an uneasy gesture toward the western horizon. When -the sun gets about halfway down behind the mountains the men begin to -finger their pieces of bread, inhaling its smell voluptuously. Then it -gets so low that nothing can be seen but a golden arc, and the rowers -lay down their oars. Those who are busy and those who are idle, some -midway across the Golden Horn, some lying in retired inlets, others on -the Bosphorus, others over near the Asiatic shore, others, again, who -are plying on the Sea of Marmora, one and all, turning toward the west, -remain immovable, their eyes fixed on the fast-disappearing disk with -mouth open, kindling eye, and bread firmly clasped in the right hand. -Now nothing can be seen but a tiny point of fire: a thousand hunks -of bread are held close to a thousand mouths, and then the fiery eye -drops out of sight, the cannons thunders, and on the instant thirty-two -thousand teeth tear a thousand huge mouthsful from a thousand loaves! -But why say a thousand, when in every house and café and restaurant a -similar scene is being enacted at precisely the same moment, and for a -short time the Turkish city is nothing but a huge monster whose hundred -thousand jaws are all tearing and devouring at once? - - -ANCIENT CONSTANTINOPLE. - -But think what this city must have been in the great days of the -Ottoman glory! I kept thinking of that all the time. How it must have -looked when not a single cloud of smoke arose from the Bosphorus, all -white with sails, to make ugly, black marks against the blue of sky -and water! In the port and the inlets of the Sea of Marmora, among -the picturesque battle-ships of that period with their lofty carved -prows, silver crescents, violet standards, and gilded lanterns, -floated the battered and blood-stained hulks of Spanish, Genoese, -and Venetian galleys. No bridges spanned the Golden Horn, which was -covered with myriads of gayly-decorated boats plying constantly from -one shore to the other, among which could be distinguished afar off -the snowy-white launches of the Seraglio, covered with gold-fringed -scarlet hangings and propelled by rowers dressed in silk. Skutari was -then no more than a village: seen from Galata, she only appeared to -have a few houses scattered about on the hillside; no lofty palaces as -yet reared their heads above the hilltops of Pera; the appearance of -the city was doubtless less impressive than now, but far more Oriental -in character: the law prescribing the use of colors being then in full -force, one could determine accurately the religion of the occupant from -the color of each house. Except for its public and sacred edifices, -which were white as snow, Stambul was entirely red and yellow; the -Armenian quarters were light, and the Greek quarters dark gray; the -Hebrew quarter, purple. As in Holland, the passion for flowers was -universal, so that the gardens were like huge bouquets of hyacinths, -tulips, and roses. The exuberant vegetation not having been as yet -checked on the surrounding hillsides by the growth of new suburbs, -Constantinople presented the appearance of a city built in a forest. -The public thoroughfares were nothing but lanes and alleys, but they -were rendered picturesque by the varied and brilliant crowds which -thronged them. The huge turbans worn by the men lent them all an air -of dignity and importance. The women, with the single exception of the -Sultan’s mother, were so rigorously veiled as to show nothing but the -eyes, and so formed a population apart, anonymous, enigmatical, which -lent to the entire city a certain air of secresy and mystery. Severe -laws controlled the dress of every individual, so that from the shape -of his turban or color of his caftan one could tell the precise rank, -occupation, office, or condition of every one he met, as though the -city had been one great court. The horse being as yet almost “man’s -only coach,” thousands of cavaliers filled the crowded streets, while -long files of camels and dromedaries belonging to the army traversed -the city in all directions, giving it something of the savage and -imposing air of an ancient Asiatic metropolis. Gilded arabas, drawn -by oxen, passed carriages hung with the green cloth of the _ulemi_ or -scarlet cloth of the _kâdi-aschieri_, and light _talike_ hung with -satin and fantastically painted. Troops of slaves marched along, -representing every country from Polonia to Ethiopia, clanking the -chains riveted on them in the field of battle. On the street-corners, -in the squares and the courtyards of the mosques, groups of soldiers -collected, clad in glorious rags, displaying their battered arms and -scars still fresh from wounds received at Vienna, Belgrade, Rodi, -and Damascus. Hundreds of orators recounted to rapt and enthusiastic -audiences the heroic deeds and brilliant victories achieved by the -army fighting at a distance of three months’ march from Stambul. -Pasha, bey, agha, musselim, numberless dignitaries and personages of -high rank, clad with theatrical display and accompanied by throngs of -attendants, made their way through the crowds, who bowed before them -like grain before the wind. Ambassadors representing every court in -Europe, accompanied by princely retinues, who had come to Stambul to -sue for peace or arrange an alliance, swept by. Caravans laden with -propitiatory gifts from Asiatic and African kings filed slowly along -the principal thoroughfares. Companies of _silidars_ and _spahis_, -haughty and insolent, swaggered by, their sabres stained with the blood -of twenty different nations, while the handsome Greek and Hungarian -Seraglio pages, dressed like little kings, pushed haughtily through the -obsequious multitude, who, recognizing in them the unnatural caprices -of their lord, respected them accordingly. Here and there a trophy of -knotted clubs before some doorway indicated the presence of a corps -of Janissaries, who at that time acted as police in the interior of -the city. Parties of Hebrews would be seen hurrying to the Bosphorus -with the dead bodies of the victims of justice. Every morning a body -would be found in the Baluk Bazâr, lying with the head under the right -armpit, a stone holding in place the sentence affixed to the breast. -Law-breakers to whom summary justice had been meted out would dangle -from a beam or hook in the public highway, while after nightfall one -was liable to stumble over the body of some unfortunate who, after -having his hands and feet pounded with clubs, had been thrown from the -window of the torture-chamber. In the broad light of day merchants, -caught in the act of cheating, would be nailed through the ear to their -own shop-doors, and, there being no law controlling the free right of -sepulture, the work of digging graves and burying the dead was carried -on at all hours and in all places--in the gardens, in the lanes and -open squares, and before the doors of dwellings. The cries of lambs -and sheep could be heard from the courtyards where they were being -slaughtered in sacrifice to Allah on the occasion of a circumcision -or a birth. From time to time a troop of eunuchs, galloping by with -warning cries, would be the signal for a general stampede; the streets -would become deserted; doors and windows fly to, blinds be drawn down, -and an entire neighborhood suddenly assume the look and air of a city -of the dead. Then in long procession files of gorgeously-decorated -coaches filled with the ladies of the imperial harem would pass by, -scattering around them an atmosphere of perfume and laughter. Sometimes -it would happen that an official of the court, making his way through -some thoroughfare, would suddenly encounter six quite ordinary-looking -individuals about to enter a shop, and at that sight grow unaccountably -pale. These six, however, would be the Sultan, four officers of his -court, and an executioner making their rounds from shop to shop in -order to verify the weights and measures. - -[Illustration: Interior of Mosque of Ahmed.] - -Throughout the whole of the city’s huge body there coursed an -exuberant and feverish life; the treasury overflowed with jewels, the -arsenal with arms, the barracks with soldiers, the caravanseries with -strangers; the slave-market was thronged with merchants and lofty -personages come to inspect the crowds of beautiful slaves. Scholars -pressed to examine the archives of the great mosques; long-winded -viziers prepared for the delectation of future generations the -interminable annals of the Empire; poets, pensioned by the -Seraglio, assembled in the baths, where they sang the imperial loves -and wars; swarms of Bulgarian and Armenian workmen toiled at the -erection of mighty mosques, employing huge blocks of granite and Paros -marble, while by sea, columns from the temples of the Archipelago, and -by land, spoils from the churches of Pesth and Ofen, were brought to -contribute to their splendor. In the harbor a fleet of three hundred -sail made ready to carry terror and dismay to every coast in the -Mediterranean; between Stambul and Adrianapolis companies of falconers -and gamekeepers, to the number of seven thousand, were stationed; and -in the intervals between military uprisings at home, foreign wars, and -conflagrations which would reduce twenty thousand houses to ashes in a -single night, revels would be celebrated, lasting thirty days, in honor -of the representatives of every court in Asia, Africa, and Europe. On -these occasions the glorifications of the Mussulmans degenerated into -folly: sham battles were fought by the Janissaries in the presence of -the Sultan and the court, amid huge _palme di nozze_ laden with birds, -mirrors, and fruits of various kinds, in order to make room for which -walls and houses were ruthlessly destroyed; and processions of lions -and sugar mermaids, borne on horses whose trappings were of silver -damask, and mountains of royal gifts sent from every part of the Empire -and every court in the world; dervishes executed their furious dances, -and bloody massacres of Christian prisoners were followed by public -banquets where ten thousand dishes of _cuscussù_ were served to the -populace; trained elephants and giraffes danced in the Hippodrome, -while bears and wolves, with fireworks tied to their tails, were let -loose among the people; allegorical pantomimes, grotesque masquerades, -wanton dances, fantastic processions, games, comedies, symbolic cars, -rustic dances, followed each other in rapid succession. Little by -little as night descended the festival degenerated into a mad orgy, -and then the lights from five hundred brilliantly illuminated mosques -spread a great aureole of fire over the entire city and announced -to the watching shepherds on the mountain-heights of Asia and the -wayfarers on the Propontis the revels of this new Babylon. - -Such was once Stambul, a haughty sultaness, voluptuous, formidable, -wanton, as compared with which the city of to-day is little more than -some weary old queen, peevish and hypochondriacal. - - -THE ARMENIANS. - -Absorbed as I was by the Turks, I had, as may be readily understood, -but little time left in which to study the characteristics of the -three other nationalities--Armenian, Greek, and Hebrew--which go to -make up the population of Constantinople--a study requiring a certain -amount of time, too, since all of these people, while preserving to a -certain extent their national character, have outwardly conformed to -the prevailing Mussulman coloring around them, now in its turn fading -into a uniform tint of European civilization. Thus it is as difficult -to catch a vivid impression of any one of the three as it would be of a -view that was constantly changing. This is true in a special sense of -the Armenians, “Christians in spirit and faith, Asiatic Mussulmans by -birth and carnal nature,” whom it is not only hard to study intimately, -but even to distinguish at sight, since those among them who have not -adopted the European costume dress like Turks in all except some very -minor points. All of them have abandoned the ancient felt cap which -was formerly, with certain special colors, the distinctive sign of -their nation. In appearance they closely resemble the Turks, being -for the most part tall, robust, and corpulent, with a grave, sedate -carriage, but their complexion is light, and the two striking points -of their national character can usually be read in their faces--the -one, a quick, open, industrious, and persevering spirit, which fits -them in a peculiar way to commercial enterprises; and the other -that adaptability, called by some servility, which enables them to -gain a foothold among whatever people they may be thrown with from -Hungary to China, and renders them particularly acceptable to the -Turks, whose confidence they readily succeed in winning, making them -faithful subjects and obsequious friends. There is nothing heroic -or bellicose either about their appearance or disposition: formerly -this may have been otherwise. Those parts of Asia whence they came -are at present inhabited by a people, descendants of a common stock, -who, it is said, resemble them but little. Certainly those members of -the race who have been transplanted to the shores of the Bosphorus -are a prudent and managing people, moderate in their manner of life, -intent only upon their trade, and more sincerely religious, it is -affirmed, than any other nation which inhabits Constantinople. They -are called by the Turks the “camels of the Empire,” and the Franks -assert that every Armenian is born an accountant. These two sayings -are, to a great extent justified by the facts, since, thanks to -their great physical strength and their quickness and intelligence, -they furnish, in addition to a large proportion of her architects, -engineers, doctors, and clever and painstaking mechanics, the greater -part of Constantinople’s bankers and porters, the former amassing -fabulous fortunes, and the latter carrying enormous loads. At first -sight, though, one would hardly be aware that there was an Armenian -population in Constantinople, so completely has the plant, so to -speak, assumed the color of the soil. Their women, on whose account -the house of the Armenian is almost as rigorously closed to strangers -as that of the Mussulman, have likewise adopted the Turkish dress, -and none but the most expert eye could distinguish them among their -Mohammedan neighbors. They are generally fair and stout, with the -aquiline Oriental profile, large eyes and long lashes; many of them are -tall, with matronly figures, and, surmounted by turbans, might well be -mistaken for handsome sheiks. They are universally modest and dignified -in their bearing, and if anything is lacking it is the intelligence -which beams from the eyes of their Greek sisters. - - -THE GREEKS. - -Difficult as it may be to single out the Armenian at sight, there is no -such trouble about the Greek, who differs so essentially in character, -bearing, appearance, everything, from all the other subjects of the -Empire that he can be told at once without even looking at his dress. -To appreciate this diversity, or rather contrast, one need only watch -a Turk and a Greek who happen to be seated beside one another on board -a steamboat or in a café. They may be about the same age and rank, -both dressed in the European fashion, and even resemble each other -somewhat in feature, and yet it is quite impossible to mistake them. -The Turk sits perfectly motionless; his face wears a look of quietude -and repose, void of all expression, like a fed animal; if by any chance -some shadow of a thought appears, it seems to be a reflection as -lifeless and inert as his body; he looks at no one, and is apparently -quite unconscious that any one is looking at him, expressing by his -entire bearing an utter indifference to his surroundings, a something -of the resigned melancholy of a slave and the cold pride of a despot; -hard, closed, completed, he seems incapable of altering any resolution -once taken, and it would drive any one to the verge of madness who -should undertake the task of persuading him to any course. In short, he -appears to be a being hewn out of a single block, with whom it would -only be possible to live either as master or servant, and no amount -of intercourse with whom would ever justify the taking of a liberty. -With the Greek it is altogether different. His mobile features express -every thought that passes through his mind, and betray a youthful, -almost childish ardor, while he tosses his head with the free action of -an uncurbed and restive horse. On finding himself observed he at once -strikes an attitude, and if no one looks at him he tries to attract -attention; he seems to be always wanting or imagining something, -and his whole person breathes of shrewdness and ambition. There is -something so attractive and sympathetic about him that you are inclined -to give him your hand even when you would hesitate about trusting him -with your purse. Seen side by side, one can readily understand how it -is that one of these men considers the other a proud, overbearing, -brutal savage, and is looked down upon in his turn as a light -creature, untrustworthy, mischievous, and the cause of endless trouble, -and how they mutually despise and hate one another from the bottom of -their hearts, finding it impossible to live together in peace. And so -with the women. It is with a distinct feeling of gratification and -pleasure that one first encounters amid the handsome, florid Turkish -and Armenian types, appealing more to the senses than the mind, the -pure and exquisite features of the Greek women, illuminated by those -deep serious eyes whose every glance recalls an ode, while their -exquisite shapes inspire an immediate desire to clasp them in one’s -arms--with the object of placing them on pedestals, however, rather -than in the harem. Among them can still be occasionally found one -or two who, wearing their hair after the ancient fashion--that is, -hanging over the shoulders in long wavy locks, with one thick coil -wound around the top of the head like a diadem--are so noble-looking, -so beautiful and classic, that they might well be taken for statues -fresh from the chisel of a Praxiteles or a Lysippus, or for youthful -immortals discovered after twenty centuries in some forgotten valley -of Laconia or unknown island of the Egean. But even among the Greeks -these examples of queenly beauty are exceedingly rare, and are found -only in the ranks of the old aristocracy of the Empire, in the silent -and melancholy quarter of Fanar, where the spirit of ancient Byzantium -has taken refuge. There one may occasionally see one of these -magnificent women leaning on the railing of a balcony or against the -grating of some lofty window, her eyes fixed upon the deserted street -in the attitude of an imprisoned queen; and when a crowd of lackeys -is not lounging idly before the door of one of these descendants of -the Palæologi and the Comneni, one may, watching her from some place -of observation, fancy that a rift in the clouds has revealed for an -instant the face of an Olympian goddess. - - -THE HEBREWS. - -With regard to the Hebrews I am prepared to assert, having been to -Morocco myself, that those of Constantinople have nothing in common -with their fellows of the northern coast of Africa, where observing -experts say they have discovered in all its primitive purity the -original Oriental type of Hebrew beauty. In the hope of finding some -traces of this same beauty, I summoned up all my courage and thoroughly -explored the vast Ghetto of Balata, which winds like an unclean reptile -along the banks of the Golden Horn. I penetrated into the most wretched -purlieus, among hovels “encrusted with mould” like the shores of the -Dantesque pool; through passageways which nothing would induce me to -enter again except on stilts, and, holding my nose; I peered through -windows hung with filthy rags into dark, malodorous rooms; paused -before damp courtyards exhaling a smell of mould and decay strong -enough to take one’s breath away; pushed my way through groups of -scrofulous children; brushed up against horrible old men who looked as -though they had died of the plague and come to life again; avoiding -now a dog covered with sores, now a pool of black mud, dodging under -rows of loathsome rags hung from greasy cords, or stumbling over heaps -of decaying stuff whose smell was enough to make one faint outright. -And, after all, my heroism met with no reward. Among all the many women -whom I encountered wearing the national kalpak--an article resembling -a sort of elongated turban, covering the hair and ears--I saw, it is -true, some faces in which could be discovered that delicate regularity -of feature and the expression of gentle resignation which are supposed -to characterize the Constantinopolitan Jewess; some vague profiles of a -Rebecca or a Rachel, with almond-shaped eyes full of a soft sweetness; -an occasional graceful, erect figure standing in Raphaelesque attitude -in an open doorway, with one delicate hand resting lightly on the curly -head of a child; but for the most part my investigations revealed -nothing but discouraging evidences of the degradation of the race. What -a contrast between those pinched faces and the piercing eyes, brilliant -coloring, and well-rounded forms which aroused my admiration a year -later in the _Mellà_ of Tangiers and Fez! - -And the men--thin, yellow, stunted, all their vitality seems centred -in their bright cunning eyes, never still for a moment, but which -roll restlessly about as though constantly attracted by the sound of -chinking money. - -At this point I am quite prepared to hear my kind critics among the -Israelites--who have already rapped me over the knuckles in regard -to their co-religionists of Morocco--take up the burden of their -song, laying all the blame of the degeneration and degradation of the -Hebrews of Constantinople at the door of the Turkish oppressor. But -it should be remembered that the other non-Mussulman subjects of the -Porte are all on a precisely similar footing, both political and civil, -with themselves; and, even were it otherwise, they would find some -difficulty in proving that the filthy habits, early marriages, and -complete abandonment of every sort of hard work, considered as primal -causes of that degeneration, are the logical results of the loss of -liberty and independence. And should they assert that it is not so -much Turkish oppression as the universal scorn and petty persecutions -which they have had to endure on all hands that have brought about such -complete loss of self-respect, let them pause and first ask themselves -if the exact opposite may not be nearer the truth, and the general -obloquy in which they are held be not so much the cause as the result -of their manner of life; and then, instead of trying to cover up the -sore, themselves be the ones to apply the knife. - - -THE BATH. - -After making the tour of Balata the most appropriate thing to take next -seems to be a Turkish bath. The bath-houses may be easily recognized -from without: they are small, mosque-shaped buildings, without windows, -surmounted by cupolas, and have high conical chimneys, from which smoke -is constantly rising. So much for the exterior, but he who desires to -penetrate farther and explore the mysteries of the interior would do -well to pause and ask himself, _Quid valeant humeri?_ since not every -one is able to endure the _aspro governo_ to which he who enters those -salutary walls must be subjected. I am free to confess that, after all -I had been told, I approached them with some feeling of trepidation, -which I think the reader will admit was not wholly unjustifiable before -he has done. As I recall it all now, two great drops of perspiration -stand out on my forehead, ready to roll down when I shall be in the -heat of my description. Here then is what was done to my unhappy -person. Entering timidly, I find myself in a large apartment which -leaves one in doubt for a few moments as to whether he has gotten by -mistake into a theatre or a hospital. A fountain plays in the centre, -decorated on top with flowers; a wooden gallery runs all around the -walls, upon which some Turks, stretched upon mattresses and enveloped -from head to foot in snow-white cloths, either slumber profoundly or -smoke in a dreamy state between waking and sleeping. Looking about -for some attendant, I become suddenly aware of two robust mulattoes, -stripped to the waist, who appear from nowhere like spectres and ask in -deep tones and both together, “_Hammamun?_” (bath?). “_Evvet_” (yes), I -reply in a very weak voice. Motioning me to follow, they lead the way -up a small wooden stair to a room filled with mats and cushions, where -I am given to understand that I must undress, after which they proceed -to wrap a strip of blue and white stuff about my loins, tie my head up -in a piece of muslin, and, placing a pair of huge slippers on my feet, -grasp me under the arms like a drunken man, and conduct, or rather -drag, me into another room, warm and half lighted, where, after laying -me on a rug, they stand with arms akimbo, waiting until my skin shall -have become moist. These preparations, so distressingly suggestive of -some approaching punishment, fill me with a vague uneasiness, which -changes into something even less admirable when the two cutthroats, -after touching me on the forehead, exchange a meaning glance, as who -should say, “Suppose he resists?” and then, as though exclaiming, “To -the rack!” again seize me by the arms and lead me into a third room. -This apartment makes a very singular impression at first sight: -it is as though one found himself in a subterranean temple, where, -through clouds of vapor, high marble walls, rows of columns, arches, -and a lofty vaulted roof, can be indistinctly seen, colored green and -blue and crimson by the rays of light falling from the cupola, white -spectral figures slide noiselessly back and forth close to the walls. -In the centre half-naked forms are extended upon the pavement, while -others, also half naked, bend over them in the attitude of doctors -making an autopsy. The temperature is such that no sooner have we -entered than I break out into a profuse perspiration, and it seems most -probable that should I ever get out at all it will be in the form of a -running stream like the lover of Arethusa. - -The two mulattoes convey my body to the centre of the room and deposit -it upon a sort of anatomical table consisting of a raised slab of white -marble, beneath which are the stoves. The marble, being extremely -hot, burns me and I see stars, but, as long as I am there, there -is no choice but to go through with the penalty. My two attendants -accordingly begin the _vivisection_, and, chanting a sort of funeral -dirge the while, pinch my arms and legs, stretch my muscles, make my -joints crack, pound me, rub me, maul me, and then, rolling me over -on my face, begin over again, only to put me on my back later and -recommence the whole process. They knead and work me like a dough -figure to which they want to give a certain form they have in mind, -and, not succeeding, have grown angry with; a slight pause for breath -is only followed by renewed pinching, pulling, and pounding, until I -begin to fear that my last hour is drawing near; and then finally, when -my entire body is streaming with perspiration like a wet sponge, the -blood coursing furiously through my veins, and it has become evident -that I have reached the last limit of endurance, they gather up my -remains from that bed of torment and carry them to a corner, where in a -small alcove are a basin and two spigots from which hot and cold water -are running. But, alas! fresh martyrdom awaits me here; and really -the affair at this point begins to assume so serious an aspect that, -joking aside, I consider whether it would not be possible to strike -out to right and left, and, just as I am, make a break for life and -liberty. It is too late, though: one of my tormentors, putting on a -camel’s-hair glove, has fallen to rubbing my back, breast, arms, and -legs with the same cheerful energy a lively groom might employ in -currying a horse; after this has been prolonged for fully five minutes -a stream of tepid water is poured down my back, and I take breath and -return devout thanks to Heaven that it is all over at last. I soon -find, however, that this is premature: that ferocious mulatto, taking -the glove off, promptly falls to once more with his bare hand, until, -losing all patience, I sign to him to stop, with the result that, -exhibiting his hand, he proves to his own entire satisfaction and my -complete bewilderment that he must still continue, and does so. Next -follows another deluge of water, and after that a fresh operation: each -of them, now taking a piece of tow cloth, rubs a quantity of Candia -soap upon it, and then proceeds to soap me well from head to foot; then -another torrent of perfumed water, followed by the tow cloths again, -but, Heaven be praised! without soap this time, and the process is one -of drying me off. When this has been accomplished they tie up my head -again, wrap the cloth about my body, and then, enveloping me in a large -sheet, reconduct me to the second room, where I am allowed to rest a -few moments before being taken to the first; here a warm mattress is in -readiness, upon which I stretch myself luxuriously. The two instruments -of justice give a few final pinches to equalize the circulation of -blood throughout all my members, and then, placing an embroidered -cushion under my head, a white covering over me, a pipe in my mouth, -and a glass of lemonade at my side, depart, leaving me light, fresh, -airy, perfumed, with a mind serene, a contented heart, and such a sense -of youth and vitality that I feel as though, like Venus, I had just -been born from the foam of the sea, and seem to hear the wings of the -loves fluttering above my head. - - -THE SERASKER TOWER. - -Feeling thus “airy and meet for intercourse with the stars,” one could -not do better than ascend to the top of that stone Titan called the -Serasker Tower. I think that should Satan again undertake to offer a -view of the kingdoms of the world by way of a temptation, his best -course would be to select this spot for the enterprise. The tower, -built in the reign of Mahmûd II., is planted upon the summit of the -most lofty hill in Stambul, on that spot in the centre of the vast -courtyard of the War Office called by the Turks the _umbilicus_ of -the city. It is constructed mainly of white Marmora marble, on the -plan of a regular polygon with sixteen sides, and rears itself aloft, -erect, and graceful as a column, overtopping to a considerable extent -the gigantic minarets of the adjacent mosque of Suleiman. Ascending -a winding stair lighted here and there by square windows, you catch -fleeting views now of Galata, now of Stambul or the villages on the -Golden Horn, and before you are halfway to the top seem already to have -reached the region of the clouds. It may happen that a slight noise -is heard directly over your head, and almost at the same instant a -something flashes by, apparently an object of some sort being hurled -headlong from above; but, in reality, one of the guards stationed -day and night on the summit to watch for fires and give the alarm, -who, having discovered at some distant point of the horizon a -cloud of suspicious-looking smoke, is taking word to the seraskier. -After mounting about two hundred steps you reach a sort of covered -terrace running all around the tower and enclosed with glass, where an -attendant is always at hand to serve visitors with coffee. On first -finding yourself in that transparent cage, suspended as it were between -heaven and earth, with nothing to be seen but an immense blue space, -and the wind howling and rattling the panes of glass and making the -boards strain and creak, you are very apt to be attacked with vertigo -and to feel strongly tempted to give up the view; but at sight of the -ladder which leads to the window in the roof courage returns, and, -climbing up with a beating heart, a cry of astonishment escapes you. It -is an overpowering moment, and for a little while you remain silent and -transfixed. - -[Illustration: Entrance and Tower of Seraskier.] - -Constantinople lies spread out before you like a map, and with the -turn of an eye the entire extent of the mighty metropolis can be -embraced--all the hills and valleys of Stambul from the Castle of the -Seven Towers to the cemetery of Eyûb; all Galata, all Pera, as though -you could drop your sight down into them like a plumb-line; all Skutari -as though it lay directly beneath you--three lines of buildings, -groves, and shipping, extending as far as the eye can reach along -three shores of indescribable beauty, and other stretches of garden -and village winding away inland until they fade out of view in the -distance; the entire length of the Golden Horn, smooth and glassy, -dotted over with innumerable käiks, which look like bright-colored -flies swimming about on the surface of the water; all of the Bosphorus -too, but, owing to the hills which run out into it here and there, it -looks like a series of lakes, and each lake seems to be surrounded -by a city, and each city festooned about with gardens: beyond the -Bosphorus lies the Black Sea, whose blue surface melts into the -sky; in the opposite direction are the Sea of Marmora, the Gulf of -Nicomedia [Ismid], the Isles of the Princes, and the two coasts of -Asia and Europe, white with villages; beyond the Sea of Marmora lie -the Dardanelles, shining like a silver ribbon, and beyond them again a -dazzling white light indicates the Ægean Sea, with a dark line showing -the position of the Troad; beyond Skutari are seen Bithynia and the -Olympus; beyond Stambul the brown undulating solitudes of Thrace; -two gulfs, two straits, two continents, three seas, twenty cities, -myriads of silver cupolas with gilded pinnacles, a glory of light, an -exuberance of color, until you doubt whether it is indeed your own -planet spread out before you or some other heavenly body more highly -favored by God. - - -CONSTANTINOPLE. - -And so on the Serasker Tower I asked myself, as I had already done -over and over again on the old bridge, the Tower of Galata, at Skutari, -how I could ever have been so infatuated with Holland; and not only did -Holland now seem a poor dull place which one would tire of in a month, -but Paris, Madrid, Seville as well. And then I would think miserably -of my wretched descriptions--how often I had used the expressions -superb, beautiful, magnificent, until now there were none left for -this surpassing view; and yet at the same time I knew I would never be -willing to subtract a syllable from what I had said about those other -parts of Constantinople. My friend Rossasco would say, “Well, why don’t -you try this?” To which I would reply, “But suppose I have nothing to -say?” And indeed, incredible as it sounds, there really were times -when, in certain lights and at certain hours of the day, the view did -look almost poor, and I would exclaim in dismay, “What has become of -my beloved Constantinople?” At others I would experience a feeling -of sadness to think that while I had that immensity of space, that -prodigality of beauty, spread out before me for the asking, my mother -was sitting in a little room from which nothing could be seen but a -dull courtyard and narrow strip of sky, as though I must somehow be to -blame; and feel that I would give an eye to have my dear old lady on my -arm and carry her off to see St. Sophia. As a rule, however, the days -flew by as lightly and gayly as the hours at a feast, and when, by -any chance, my friend and I were attacked by ill-humor, we had a sure -and certain method of curing ourselves. Going to Galata, we would jump -into the two most gayly-decorated two-oared käiks at the landing, and, -calling out, “Eyûb!” presto, before we knew it, would find ourselves -in the middle of the Golden Horn. The oarsmen, Mahmûds or Bayezids or -Ibrahims, about twenty years old or so, and endowed with arms of iron, -would usually amuse themselves by racing, keeping up a series of shouts -and cries and laughing like children. Above, a cloudless sky, below a -smooth transparent sea; throwing back our heads, we would inhale great -breaths of the delicious scented air, and trail one hand over the -side in the soft clear water. On fly the two käiks; palaces, gardens, -kiosks, and mosques glide by; we seem to be borne on the wings of the -wind across an enchanted world, and are blissfully conscious that we -are young and at Stambul. Yunk sings, and I, while reciting half aloud -some one of Victor Hugo’s ballads of the East, can see now on the right -hand and now on the left, near by, afar off, a beloved face crowned -with white hair which wears a tender smile and tells me, as plainly as -though it were a voice speaking, that she appreciates and fully shares -all my enjoyment. - - - - -ST. SOPHIA. - - -And now, if even a poor writer of travels may be allowed to invoke -his Muse, I do most certainly invoke mine with bent knee and clasped -hands, for, verily my mind grows bewildered, “_in faccia al nobile -subbietto_,” and the majestic outlines of the great Byzantine basilica -tremble before my vision like images reflected in the water. May the -Muse inspire me, St. Sophia illumine me, and the emperor Justinian -pardon me! - -[Illustration: Entrance to St. Sophia.] - -It was a fine morning in October when we at last set forth, accompanied -by a Turkish _cavas_ from the Italian consulate and a Greek dragoman, -to visit the terrestrial Paradise, second firmament, car of the -cherubim, throne of the glory of God, wonder of the world, the greatest -temple on earth after St. Peter’s. This last expression, as my friends -of Burgos, Cologne, Milan, and Florence must know, is of course not -my own, nor would I ever dare to make it so: I merely quote it among -the rest as one of the many terms consecrated by the enthusiasm of -the Greeks which our dragoman repeated to us as we passed along the -streets. We had purposely supplemented him by the old Turkish cavas -in the hope--and we were not disappointed--that their two accounts -might bring vividly before us the struggle between the two religions, -histories, and nations, the legends and explanations of one magnifying -the Church, those of the other the Mosque, in such a manner as to make -us see St. Sophia as she should be seen; that is to say, with one eye -Christian and the other Turkish. - -My expectations were very great and my curiosity was all on fire, -and yet I realized then, as I do now, that the actual sight of -a world-renowned object, no matter how fully it may justify its -reputation, never quite comes up to the keen enjoyment one experiences -when on his way to see it. If I could live over again one hour out -of each of those days on which I saw some great sight for the first -time, I would unhesitatingly choose the one which intervenes between -the moment of saying, “Now let us start,” and that in which the goal -is reached. Those are the traveller’s most blissful hours. As you walk -along you can feel your soul expand, preparing, as it were, to receive -the streams of enthusiasm and delight soon to well up in it. You -recall your boyhood’s dreams, which then seemed so hopelessly far from -realization; you remember how a certain old professor of geography, -after pointing out Constantinople on the map of Europe, traced the -outline of the great basilica in the air, a pinch of snuff between -his thumb and fore finger; you see that room, that hearth, in front -of which, during the coming winter, you will describe to a circle -of wondering and attentive faces the famous building; you hear that -name, St. Sophia, ringing in your head, your heart, your ears like the -voice of a living person who calls, and awaits your coming to reveal -some mighty secret: you see above your head dim, prodigious outlines -of arch and pilaster and column, mighty buildings which reach to the -heavens, and when, at last, but a few steps more are wanted to bring -you face to face with the reality, you linger to examine a pebble, -watch the passage of a lizard, tell some trifling anecdote--anything -that may serve to postpone, if but for a few seconds, that moment to -which for twenty years you have been looking forward, and which you -will remember for the rest of your life. And, truly, if you take away -what goes before and what follows after, not so very much remains of -the much-talked-of joys of seeing and admiring. It is almost always a -delusion, followed by a slight awakening, after which we obstinately -delude ourselves again. - -[Illustration: Fountain of Ahmed.] - -The mosque of St. Sophia stands opposite the main entrance of the old -Seraglio. On reaching, however, the open square which lies between the -two, the first object to attract attention is, not the mosque, but -the famous fountain of Sultan Ahmed III., one of the richest and most -characteristic examples of Turkish art. This exquisite little building -is not so much a monument as a caress in marble imprinted in a moment -of passionate adoration by an enamored sultan upon the forehead of his -beloved Stambul. I doubt if any but a woman’s pen can do it justice: -mine, I feel convinced, is far too coarse and heavy to trace those -delicate outlines. At first sight it hardly looks like a fountain at -all, being in the form of a little square temple with a Chinese roof, -whose undulating rim extends for some distance beyond the walls, and -lends to the whole something of the character of a pagoda. At each -corner rises a round tower furnished with small screened windows, or, -rather, they are more like four charming kiosks, corresponding to the -graceful cupolas on the roof which encircle the main central cupola. -In each of the four walls are two niches, flanking a pointed arch, -beneath which the water flows from a spout into a small basin. Around -the edifice there runs an inscription which reads as follows: “This -fountain speaks to you in the following verse by Sultan Ahmed: Turn -the key of this pure and tranquil spring and call upon the name of -God; drink of these inexhaustible and limpid waters and pray for the -Sultan.” The little building is composed entirely of white marble, -which, however, is almost hidden beneath the mass of ornamentation -with which its walls are covered--arches, niches, tiny columns, roses, -polygons, garlands, fretwork, gilding on a background of blue. Carving -around the cupolas, inlaid-work below the roof, mosaics of a hundred -different combinations of color, arabesques of every conceivable -form,--all seem to vie with one another to attract attention and arouse -admiration, until one’s powers of seeing and admiring are well-nigh -exhausted. Not so much as a hand’s breadth of space is left free -from carving, painting, gilding, or ornament of some sort. It is a -prodigy of richness, beauty, and patience, which should, by rights, be -preserved under a glass case; and, as though it were too perfect to -delight but one sense alone, you are tempted to break off a piece and -put it in your mouth, feeling that it must taste good as well--a casket -designed, as one would suppose, to guard some priceless treasure, and -you long to open it and find the--what? Infant goddess, magic ring, or -fabulous pearl. Time has to some extent faded the brilliant colors, -dimmed the gilding, and darkened the marble; think, then, what this -colossal jewel must have been when first unveiled, all fresh and -sparkling, before the eyes of the Solomon of the Bosphorus a hundred -and sixty years ago! But, old and faded as it is, it undoubtedly -occupies the first place among the lesser wonders of Constantinople, -and is, moreover, an object so distinctively Turkish that, once seen, -it claims a prominent position among that certain number of others -which will dwell for ever in one’s memory, ready to rise up at the -sound of the word “Stambul;” the background for all time against which -will be thrown out one’s dreams and visions of the Orient. - -Looking across from the fountain, St. Sophia can be seen occupying one -side of the intervening square. About the exterior there is nothing -especially noteworthy. The only points which attract the eye are the -lofty white minarets, which rise at the four corners from pedestals -each the size of a house. The celebrated dome looks small, and it -seems impossible that this can be the same as that which we are wont -to see, from the Bosphorus and Sea of Marmora and the hillsides of -Asia, rearing its mighty form like the head of some Titan against the -blue heavens. It is a flattened dome overlaid with lead, flanked by -two semi-domes, and pierced at the base by a row of small windows. -The four walls which support it are painted in broad bands of white -and red and strengthened by enormous masses of masonry. A number of -mean-looking buildings, baths, schools, hospitals, mausoleums, and -soup-kitchens, crowd around the base and effectually conceal the -ancient architectural form of the basilica. Nothing can be seen but a -heavy, irregular edifice, faded and bare as a fortress, and apparently -totally inadequate to embrace the mighty expanse of St. Sophia’s great -nave. Of the original basilica only the dome is visible, and even that -has been despoiled of the silver splendor which, according to the -Greeks, could once be seen from the summit of the Olympus. All the -rest is Mussulman: one minaret was erected by Muhammad the Conqueror, -another by Selim II., the two others by the Third Murad, the same -who toward the close of the sixteenth century added the buttresses -to strengthen the walls shaken by an earthquake, and placed the huge -bronze crescent on the summit of the dome, the gilding alone of which -cost fifty thousand ducats. The ancient atrium has disappeared, and -the baptistry has been converted into a mausoleum where are interred -the remains of Mustafa I. and Ibrahim, while nearly every one of the -other small buildings which adjoined the Greek church have been either -destroyed outright or else, by the erection of new walls or some other -alteration, changed past recognition: on all sides the mosque crowds, -pushes, and bears down upon the church, of which the head alone remains -free, and even around that the imperial minarets mount guard like -four gigantic sentinels. On the east side there is a doorway flanked -by six marble and porphyry columns; another on the south leads into a -courtyard surrounded by low, irregular buildings, in the midst of which -a fountain for ablutions plays beneath a little arched canopy supported -on eight, small columns. Viewed from the outside, there is nothing to -distinguish St. Sophia from the other great mosques of Stambul, except -that it is heavier and dingier; far less would it ever enter one’s -head to name it “the greatest temple on earth after St. Peter’s.” - -[Illustration: Mosque of St. Sophia.] - -Our guides conducted us by a narrow street skirting the northern wall -of the edifice to a bronze door, which, swinging slowly back on its -hinges, admitted us to the eso-narthex. This is a very long and lofty -hall lined with marbles, and still glowing here and there with ancient -mosaics. Nine doors on the eastern side give access to the body of the -church, opposite which five others formerly led to the exo-narthex, -which, in turn, communicated by thirteen doors with the atrium. We had -barely crossed the threshold when a turbaned sacristan demanded our -firmans, and then, after donning slippers, at a sign from the guides we -approached the middle door on the eastern side, which stood half open -to receive us. The first effect is certainly quite overpowering, and -for some moments we remained stunned and speechless. In a single glance -one is confronted by an enormous space and a bold architecture of -semi-domes which seem to hang suspended in the air, enormous pilasters, -mighty arches, gigantic columns, galleries, tribunes, arcades, over -which floods of light are poured from a thousand great windows--a -something I hardly know how to define of theatrical and regal rather -than sacred; an ostentation of size and strength; a look of worldly -pomp; a mixture of the classic, barbarous, fanciful, arrogant, and -magnificent; a stupendous harmony in which, with the formidable and -thunderous notes of the pilasters and cyclopean arches, recalling -the cathedrals of the North, there mingle soft, subdued strains of -some Oriental air, the noisy music of the revels of Justinian and -Heraclitus, echoes of pagan chants, the choked voice of an effeminate -and wornout race, and distant cries of Goth, of Vandal, and of Avar; -a mighty defaced majesty, a sinister nakedness, a profound peace--St. -Peter’s shrunken and plastered over, St. Mark’s enlarged and abandoned; -a quite indescribable mingling of church, mosque, and temple, severe -in aspect, puerile in adornment--of things old and new, faded colors, -and curious, unfamiliar accessories: a sight, in short, so bewildering, -so awe-inspiring, and at the same time so full of melancholy, that -for a time the mind cannot grasp its full meaning, but gropes about -uncertainly, trying to find first what it is, and then words in which -to express it. - -The plan of the edifice nearly approaches an equilateral rectangle, -over the centre of which rises the great dome, supported on four -mighty arches resting upon massive pilasters: these form, as it were, -the skeleton of the entire building. From the arches on the right and -left of the entrance there rise, before and beyond the great dome, -two semi-domes, the three covering the entire nave, these semi-domes -have six exedræ, of which the four on the sides are also covered -with semi-domes, making four small circular temples enclosed in the -large one. Between the two exedræ at the east end of the building is -the apse, which projects beyond the external wall, and is likewise -covered with a domed roof. Thus seven semi-domes encircle the main one, -two just beyond it and five more beyond these, all of them without -any apparent support, and presenting an extraordinary impression of -lightness, as though they actually were, as a Greek poet once said, -suspended by seven cords from the roof of the sky. All these domes -are lighted by large windows arched and symmetrical. Between the four -great pilasters, which form a square in the centre of the basilica, -there rise to the right and left of the entrance eight wonderful -columns of green marble, from which spring graceful arches richly -carved with foliage, forming charming porticos on either side of the -nave, and supporting at a great height two vast galleries, where are -to be seen two other lines of columns and sculptured arches. A third -gallery, communicating with the first two, runs above the narthex, and -opens out on the nave by means of three enormous arches supported on -double columns. Other smaller galleries, resting upon porphyry columns, -intersect the four small temples at the extremities of the nave, and -from them rise other columns supporting tribunes. - -Such is the basilica. The mosque is, so to speak, spread over its -surface and hung upon its walls. The _mihrab_--that is, the niche -which indicates the direction in which Mecca lies--is hollowed out of -one of the pilasters of the apse; to the right of it, high up on the -wall, hangs one of the four prayer-carpets of the Prophet. In the angle -of the apse nearest to the mihrab, reached by a steep little flight -of stairs whose marble balustrade is carved with the most marvellous -delicacy of workmanship, is the pulpit, surmounted by a queer conical -roof and hung on either side with victorious banners of Muhammad II. -Here the _rhatib_ ascends to read the Koran,[H] and carries in his hand -a drawn simeter, to signify that St. Sophia is a mosque acquired by the -force of arms. Opposite the pulpit is the Sultan’s tribune enclosed -within a gilded grating. Other pulpits or species of balconies, having -railings of open-work carving, and supported on small marble columns -and arabesqued arches, protrude here and there along the walls or -toward the centre of the nave. On either side of the entrance stand two -huge alabaster jars, found among the ruins of Pergamum and brought to -Constantinople by Murad III. Enormous green disks, bearing inscriptions -from the Koran[I] in letters of gold, are hung below the pendentives, -beneath which great mural slabs of porphyry bear the names of Allah, -Mohammed, and the first four khalifs. In the pendentives may still -be seen the gigantic wings of the four mosaic seraphim, whose faces -are now concealed beneath golden roses. From the roofs of the domes -hang innumerable silken cords, measuring almost the entire height -of the building, from which are suspended ostrich eggs, lamps of -wrought bronze, and crystal globes. Here and there stand cassia-wood -reading-desks, inlaid with copper and mother-of-pearl, on which lie -manuscript copies of the Koran. On the pavement are spread great -numbers of rugs and mats. The walls are bare, whitish, yellowish, gray, -still adorned in some places with discolored mosaics. The general -aspect is inexpressibly mournful. - - [H] This pulpit is the _minbir_, used only on Friday, and then - by the rhatib to read a prayer for the Sultan, Khalîf, and - Islam.--TRANS. - - [I] The names of Allah, the Prophet, and four khalifs mentioned - below are on these green disks, not verses from the - Koran.--TRANS. - -[Illustration: Interior of the Mosque of St. Sophia.] - -The great marvel of the mosque is the central dome. Gazing up at it -from the middle of the nave, it truly seems, as Mme. de Staël said -of the dome of St. Peter’s, as though a vast abyss were suspended -over one’s head. It is very lofty, with an enormous circumference, -and is made to appear still larger from the fact that its depth -is but one-sixth of its diameter.[J] Around its base runs a small -gallery, above which are a row of forty arched windows, and around -the crown are inscribed the words pronounced by Muhammad II. -when he drew his horse up opposite the high altar on the day of the -conquest of Constantinople: “Allah is the light of heaven and earth.” -These letters, white on a dark background, are some of them more than -twenty-seven feet long. As is well known, this aërial prodigy could -never have been constructed had ordinary materials been employed. The -roofs were built of pumice-stone, which floats on the surface of water, -and of bricks from the Isle of Rhodes, five of which hardly weigh as -much as one ordinary brick; on each of them was inscribed the sentence -from David, “_Deus in medio eius non commovebitur. Adiuvabit eam Deus -vultu suo_,” and with every twelfth row relics of various saints were -walled in. During the progress of the building operations the priests -chanted and Justinian attended in person clad in a coarse linen tunic, -while immense crowds looked on in admiration; and this is hardly to -be wondered at when we consider that the construction of this “second -firmament,” which even at the present time is an object of wonder, was -an undertaking without parallel in the sixth century. The common people -believed it to be the result of magic, and the Turks must have had -much ado for a long period after the conquest to keep their gaze fixed -upon the east when praying in St. Sophia, instead of resting it upon -that “stone heaven” above their heads. The dome covers, indeed, nearly -half the nave, in such a manner as to light up and dominate the entire -edifice: it can be seen, at least in part, from every point, and, -wander where you will, you invariably bring up beneath it to find your -gaze attracted for the hundredth time to that immeasurable space, where -eye and mind float with ecstatic delight as though borne on wings. - - [J] This is a mistake: the great dome of St. Sophia is 107 - feet across by 46 in height. (See Fergusson, _Hist. - Architecture_.)--TRANS. - -After inspecting the nave and dome one has but just begun to see St. -Sophia. Whoever takes the least shadow, for example, of historical -interest in the building could spend an hour over the columns alone. -Here may be found spoils from every temple in the world. The four -columns of green marble supporting the large galleries were presented -to Justinian by the magistrates of Ephesus, having formerly stood -in the temple of Diana, which was burned by Herostratus. The eight -porphyry columns which stand two and two between the pilasters were -a part of the temple of the Sun at Baalbek, and were carried thence -by Aurelian to Rome. Others are from the temple of Jupiter at Cyzicus -and of Helios at Palmyra--from the temples of Thebes, of Athens, of -Rome, of the Troad, the Cyclades, and from Alexandria: altogether, -they present an endless variety of style, form size, and color. What -between the columns, the railings and pedestals, and the portions of -the ancient covering of the walls which still remain, there are marbles -from every quarry of the Archipelago, Asia Minor, Africa, and -Gaul: the white Bosphorus marble speckled with black contrasts with -the black Celtic veined with white; the green marble of Laconia is -reflected in the blue Libyan, while the Egyptian spotted porphyry, -starred granite of Thessaly, the red-and-white striped stone of Mt. -Jassey, and pale _caristio_ streaked with iron, mingle their colors -with the purple Phrygian, red Synadian, gold of the Mauritius, and -snow-white marble of Paros. Added to this wealth of color is the -indescribable variety of form, as seen in the friezes, the cornices, -roses, and balustrades, and odd Corinthian capitals carved with -foliage, crosses, animals, and strange chimerical figures, all -interlaced: others, again, belong to no order in especial, of curious -design and unequal size, evidently coupled together by chance--shafts -of columns, pedestals ornamented with strange sculptures, injured by -time and mutilated by sabre-cuts,--altogether an effect of wild and -barbarous magnificence which, while it outrages the rules of good -taste, attracts the eye with an unresistible fascination. - -[Illustration: First Columns Erected in St. Sophia.] - -From the nave one hardly appreciates the vast size of the building, of -which it indeed forms but a comparatively small part. The two aisles -beneath the large galleries are in themselves two large edifices, out -of either one of which a separate temple might be formed. Each of these -is divided in three and separated by large vaulted openings. Indeed, -everything here, column, architrave, pilaster, roof, is gigantic. -Passing beneath these arches, you can barely see the nave from between -the columns of the Ephesian temple, and seem almost to be in another -basilica: the same effect is produced from the galleries, reached by a -winding stair with very gentle gradations, or rather it is an inclined -plane, for there are two steps, and one might readily ascend it on -horseback. The galleries were used as gynæconitis; that is, those parts -of the church reserved for women: penitents remained without in the -eso-narthex, while the mass of the faithful occupied the nave. Each one -of these galleries is capable of accommodating the entire population -of a suburb of Constantinople. You no longer feel as though you were -in a church, but rather walking in the foyer of some Titanic theatre, -expecting at any moment to hear the sudden outburst of a chorus sung -by a hundred thousand voices. In order to realize the immense size -and obtain a really good view of the mosque one must lean well over -the railing of the gallery and look around. Arches, roofs, pilasters, -have all swelled to gigantic proportions. The green disks which, seen -from below, appear to measure about the length of a man’s arm, are now -large enough to cover a house. The windows look like portes-cochères -of palaces, the seraphim wings like the spread sails of a vessel, the -tribunes like vast open squares; while it makes one’s head swim to -look up at the dome at all. Casting the eyes below, one is taken aback -to find how high he has mounted: the pavement of the nave is far away -at the bottom of an abyss, while the pulpits, jars from Pergamum, mats, -and lamps seem to have shrunken in the most extraordinary manner. -One rather curious circumstance about the mosque of St. Sophia is -particularly noticeable from this elevated position: the nave not being -precisely in line with Mecca, toward which it is incumbent upon every -good Mussulman to turn while praying, all the mats and strips of carpet -are placed obliquely with the lines of the building, and produce upon -the eye the same disagreeable effect as though there were some gross -defect in the perspective. From there, too, one is enabled to see and -observe all the life of the mosque. Turks are kneeling upon the mats -with foreheads touching the pavement; others stand erect and motionless -as statues, with hands held before their faces, as though interrogating -their palms; some are seated cross-legged at the foot of a pilaster, -much as they would rest beneath the shade of a tree; veiled women kneel -in a distant corner; old men seated before the lecterns read from the -Koran; an _iman_ is hearing a group of boys recite sacred verses; and -here and there beneath distant arches and through the galleries the -forms of _rhatib_, _iman_, or _muezzin_ and various other functionaries -of the mosque glide noiselessly back and forth, as though their feet -hardly touched the ground, clad in strange, unfamiliar costumes, while -the vague, subdued murmur of those who pray and those who read, that -clear, steady light, the thousand odd-looking lamps, the deserted apse -and echoing galleries, the immensity of it all, the past associations -and present peacefulness,--combine to produce such an impression of -greatness and of mystery as neither words can express nor time efface. - -But the dominating sensation, as I have already said, is one of -sadness, and that great poet who compared St. Sophia to a “colossal -sepulchre” was not far wrong. On all sides you see the signs of a -barbarous devastation, and experience more melancholy in the thought -of what has been than pleasure in contemplating what still remains. -After the first feelings of amazement have to some extent subsided, -one’s mind turns intuitively to the past. And even now, after a lapse -of three years, I can never think of the great mosque without trying to -imagine the church. Overthrow the pulpits of the Mussulman, remove the -lamps and jars, cut down the disks and tear away the porphyry slabs, -reopen the doors and windows that have been bricked up, scrape away the -plaster which covers wall and roof, and, behold! the basilica whole and -new as it appeared on that day, thirteen centuries ago, when Justinian -exclaimed, “_Glory be to God, who has judged me worthy to perform this -mighty work! O Solomon, I have surpassed thee!_” Every object upon -which the eye rests shines or glitters or flashes like the enchanted -palaces in a fairy tale. The enormous walls, once more covered with -precious marbles, send back reflections of gold, ivory, steel, coral, -and mother-of-pearl; the markings and veins of the marble look like -coronets or garlands of flowers; wherever a ray of sunlight chances to -fall upon those walls, all encrusted with crystal mosaics, they flash -and sparkle as though set with diamonds; the capitals, entablatures, -doors, and friezes of the arches are all of gilded bronze; the roofs of -aisle and gallery are covered with angelic forms and figures of saints -painted upon a golden background; before the pilasters in the chapels, -beside the doors, between the columns, stand marble and bronze statues -and enormous candelabra of solid gold; superb copies of the Gospels -lie upon lecterns adorned like kings’ thrones; lofty ivory crosses and -vases encrusted with pearls stand upon the altars. The extremity of -the nave is nothing but one blaze of light from a mass of glittering -objects: here is the gilded bronze balustrade of the choir, the pulpit -overlaid with forty thousand pounds of silver--the Egyptian tribute for -a whole year; the seats of the seven priests, the Patriarch’s throne, -and that of the emperor gilded, carved, inlaid, set with pearls, so -that when the sun shines full upon them one is forced to avert the eye. -Beyond all these splendors in the apse a still more vivid blaze is -seen proceeding from the altar itself, the table of which, supported -upon four gold pillars, is composed of a fusion of silver, gold, lead, -and pearls; above it rises the ciborium, formed of four pillars of pure -silver supporting a massive gold cupola, surmounted by a globe and by a -cross also of gold weighing two hundred and sixty pounds.[K] Beyond the -altar is seen the gigantic image of Holy Wisdom, whose feet touch the -pavement and head the roof of the apse. High over all this magnificence -shine and glisten the seven semi-domes overlaid with mosaics of crystal -and gold, and the mighty central dome covered with figures of apostle -and evangelist, the Virgin and the cross, all colored, gilded, and -brilliant like a roof of jewels and flowers. And dome and pillar, -statue and candelabra, each and every gorgeous object, is repeated in -the immense mirror of the pavement, whose polished marbles are joined -together in undulating lines, which, seen from the four main entrances, -have the effect of four majestic rivers ruffled by the wind. But we -must not forget the atrium--surrounded by columns, and walls covered -with mosaics--in which stood marble fountains and equestrian statues; -and the thirty-two towers whose bells made so formidable a clamor that -they could be heard throughout the seven hills; or the hundred bronze -doors decorated with bas-reliefs and inscriptions in silver; or the -hall of the synod; the imperial apartments; the sacerdotal prisons; -the baptistry; the vast sacristies overflowing with treasure; and a -labyrinth of vestibules, tricliniums, corridors, and secret stairways -built in the walls and leading to tribunes and hidden oratories. - - [K] Some authorities give the weight of this cross as - seventy-five pounds.--TRANS. - -And now let us in fancy attend some great state function--an imperial -marriage, a council, a coronation. From the enormous palace of the -Cæsars the glittering procession sweeps forth through streets flanked -by thousands of columns, perfumed with myrrh, and spread with flowers -and myrtle. The houses on either side are decorated with precious -vases and silken hangings. Two bands, the one of _azzurri_, the other -_verdi_, precede the cortége, which advances amid the songs of poets -and noise of the heralds shouting vivas in all the tongues of the -empire, and there, seated like an idol laden with pearls in a golden -car with purple hangings, and drawn by two white mules, the emperor -appears, wearing the tiara surmounted by a cross, and surrounded with -all the pomp of a Persian monarch. The haughty ecclesiastics advance -to the atrium to receive him, and all that throng of courtiers, -attendants, place-seekers, sycophants, lord high constables, chief -eunuchs, master-thieves, corrupt magistrates, spurious patricians, -cowardly senators, slaves, buffoons, casuists, mercenaries, adventurers -from every land, the entire glittering rabble of gilded offscourings, -pours through the twenty-seven doors and into the huge nave lit up -by six thousand candelabras. Then along the choir-rail and beneath -arcade and tribune there is a coming and going; a movement and mingling -of bared heads and purple cloaks; a waving of jewelled plumes and -velvet caps; the glitter of golden chains and silver breastplates; -an interchange of ceremonious greetings and courtly salutations; the -constant rustle and sweep of silken garments and rattle of jewelled -hilts; while soft perfumes load the air and the vast servile throng -makes the sacred edifice ring again with shouts of admiration and -profane applause. - -After making the circuit of the mosque several times in silence, we -gave our guides permission to talk. They commenced by showing us -the chapels built beneath the galleries, now, like the rest of the -basilica, despoiled of everything of value: some of them, like the -_opistodomo_ of the Parthenon, serve as treasuries, where Turks who are -about to start on long journeys deposit their money and other valuables -to be secure from robbery, sometimes leaving their possessions there, -under the protection of Allah, for years at a time; others have been -closed up and are used either as infirmaries for the sick, where they -lie awaiting death or recovery, or else places of confinement for the -insane, whose melancholy cries or bursts of wild laughter awaken from -time to time the echoes of the vast building. - -We were now reconducted to the centre of the nave, and the Greek -dragoman began to recount the marvels of the basilica. The design, it -is quite true, was sketched by the two architects, Anthemius of Tralles -and Isidorus of Miletus, but the first conception came to them through -angelic inspiration; it was also an angel who suggested to Justinian -the idea of opening the three windows in the apse to represent the -three Persons of the Trinity; in the same way the hundred and seven -columns of the church stand for the hundred and seven pillars which -support the House of Wisdom. It took seven years merely to collect -the necessary materials for constructing the edifice, while a hundred -master-builders were employed to overlook the ten thousand workmen, -five thousand on one side and five thousand on the other, who labored -at its erection. When the walls had risen to the height of but a few -hands only from the ground more than four hundred and fifty quintals -of gold had already been expended. The outlay for the building alone -amounted to twenty-five million francs. The church was consecrated by -the Patriarch five years eleven months and ten days after the first -stone was laid, and Justinian celebrated the occasion by feasts and -sacrifices and distributions of money and food which were prolonged for -two weeks. - -At this point the Turkish _cavas_ interrupted in order to call our -attention to the pilaster upon which Muhammad II. left the bloody -imprint of his right hand on the day of his victorious entrance, as -though to seal his conquest; he then pointed out the so-called “cold -window,” near the mihrab, through which a perpetual current of cool -air inspires the most eloquent discourses from the greatest orators -of Islamism. He next showed us, close by another window, the famous -“shining stone,” a slab of transparent marble which gleams like crystal -when struck by the sun’s rays, and made us touch the “sweating column,” -on the left of the north entrance. This column is overlaid with bronze, -through a crack in which the stone can be seen covered with moisture. -And finally he showed us a block of hollowed-out marble, brought from -Bethlehem, in which, it is said, was placed immediately after his birth -Sidi Yssa, “the Son of Mary, apostle of, and Spirit proceeding out -from, God, worthy of all honor both in this world and the next.” But it -struck me that neither Turk nor Greek placed very much faith in this -relic. - -The Greek now took up his parable, and led us by a certain walled-up -doorway in the gallery, in order to recount the celebrated legend of -the Greek bishop; and now his manner was one of such entire belief -that, if it was not sincere, it was certainly wonderfully well feigned. -It seems that at the very moment when the Turks burst into the church -of St. Sophia a bishop was in the act of celebrating mass at the high -altar. Leaving the altar at sight of the invaders, he ascended to one -of the galleries, where some Turks, following in hot pursuit, saw him -disappear within this little door, which was instantly closed up by a -stone wall. Throwing themselves against it, the soldiers tried with all -their force to break it down, hammering and pounding furiously against -the stones, but with no other result than to leave the marks of their -weapons upon the wall. Masons were sent for, who worked an entire day -with pickaxes and crowbars, finally abandoning the attempt: after them -every mason in Constantinople tried in turn to effect an opening, but -one and all failed to make any impression upon the miraculous wall, -which has remained closed ever since. On that day, however, when the -profaned basilica shall be restored to the worship of Christ the wall -will open of its own accord, and the bishop will come forth, wearing -his episcopal robes, and, chalice in hand, his face illumined as with a -celestial vision, will mount the steps of the altar and resume the mass -at the very point where he left off centuries ago; and then will be the -dawn of a new era for the city of Constantine. - -As we were about leaving the building the Turkish sacristan, who had -followed us all about, lounging and yawning, gave us a handful of bits -of mosaic, which he had dug out of a wall shortly before, and the -dragoman, whom this incident had interrupted as he was about to launch -forth into the account of the profanation of St. Sophia, resumed his -recital. - -I certainly hope, however, that no one will interrupt me, now that the -whole scene has been brought so vividly before me by this description -of the building. - -Hardly had the report been noised abroad throughout Constantinople, -at about seven in the morning, that the Turks had actually scaled -the walls, than an immense throng of people rushed to St. Sophia for -refuge. There were about a hundred thousand persons in all--renegade -soldiers, monks, priests, senators, thousands of virgins from the -convents, members of patrician families laden with their treasures, -high state dignitaries, and princes of the imperial blood,--all pouring -through nave and gallery and arcade, treading upon one another in every -recess of the huge building, and mingling in one inextricable mass -with the dregs of the population, slaves, and malefactors escaped from -the prisons and galleys. The mighty basilica resounded with shrieks of -terror such as are heard in a theatre at the outbreak of fire. When -every nook and corner, gallery and chapel, was filled to overflowing, -the doors were shut to and securely bolted, and the wild uproar of the -first few moments gave place to a terror-stricken silence. Many still -believed that the victors would not dare to violate the sanctity -of St. Sophia; others awaited with a stubborn sense of security the -appearance of the angel foretold by the prophets who was to annihilate -the Turkish army before the advance-guard should have reached the -Column of Constantine; others, again, had ascended to the gallery -running around the interior of the dome, from whose windows they could -watch the movements of the enemy and impart their intelligence by signs -to the hundred thousand strained and ashy faces turned up to them from -the nave and galleries below. An immense white mass could be seen -covering the city-walls from the Blachernæ to the Golden Gate, from -which four shining bands were seen to detach themselves and advance -between the houses like four torrents of lava, increasing in volume -and noise and leaving behind them a track of smoke and flame. These -were the four attacking columns of the Turkish army driving before -them the disorganized remainder of the Greek forces, and burning and -plundering as they came, converging toward St. Sophia, the Hippodrome, -and the imperial palace. As the advance-guard reached the second -hill the blare of their trumpets suddenly smote upon the ears of the -terrified throng in the basilica, who fell upon their knees in agonized -supplication; but even then there were many who still looked for the -angel to appear, and others who clung to the hope that a feeling -of awe at the vastness and majesty of that building, dedicated to -the worship of God, might hold the invaders in check. But even this -last illusion was soon dispelled. Through the thousand windows there -broke on their ears a confused roar of human voices mingled with the -clashing of arms and shrill blare of trumpets, and a moment later the -first blows of the Ottoman sabres fell upon the bronze doors of the -vestibule and resounded throughout the entire building, sounding the -death-knell of the listening multitude, who, feeling the chill breath -of the grave blow upon them, abandoned hope and recommended their -souls to the mercy of God. Before long the doors were battered in or -struck from their hinges, and a savage horde of janissaries, spahis, -_timmarioti_, dervishes, and sciaus, covered with dust and blood, their -faces contorted with the fury of battle, rapine, and murder, appeared -in the openings. At sight of the enormous nave, glittering with gold -and precious stones, they sent up a great shout of astonishment and -joy, and, pouring in like a furious torrent, abandoned themselves to -the work of pillage and destruction. Some busied themselves at once in -securing the women and virgins, valuable booty for the slave-market, -who, stupefied with terror, offered no resistance, but voluntarily held -out their arms for the chains. Others attacked the rich furnishings -of the church: tabernacles were violated, images overthrown, ivory -crucifixes trodden under foot, while the mosaics, mistaken for -precious stones, fell under the blows of the cimeters in glittering -showers into the cloaks and caftans held open to receive them; pearls, -detached from their settings with sabre-points, rolled about over the -pavement, chased like living creatures and fought over with savage -kicks and blows. The high altar was broken up into a thousand pieces of -gold and silver; thrones, pulpits, the choir-rail, all disappeared as -though swept away by an avalanche of rock and stone, and still those -Asiatic hordes continued to pour into the church in blood-stained -waves, and on all sides nothing could be seen but a whirlwind of -drunken ruffians, some of whom had placed tiaras on their heads, while -others wore different parts of the sacerdotal vestments over their own -clothing. Chalices and receptacles for the Host were waved aloft, and -troops of newly-acquired slaves, bound two and two with ecclesiastical -scarfs of gold, and horses and camels laden with plunder, were driven -over the pavement strewn with broken fragments of statues, torn -copies of the Evangels, and relics of the saints--a barbarous and -sacrilegious orgy in which shouts of triumph, fierce threats, bursts -of hoarse laughter, children’s cries, the neighing of horses, and -shrill clanging of trumpets mingled in one overpowering uproar, until, -suddenly, the mad tumult ceased, and in the awed hush which followed -the august figure of Muhammad II. appeared in a doorway, on horseback -and surrounded by a group of princes, viziers, and generals, haughty -and impassive, like the living representative of the vengeance of God. -Rising in his stirrups, he announced in a voice of thunder, which -re-echoed throughout the whole of the devastated building, the first -formula of the new religion: “Allah is the light of heaven and earth.” - - - - -DOLMABÂGHCHEH. - - -Every Friday the Sultan says his prayers in some one of the mosques of -Constantinople. - -[Illustration: Palace of Dolma Baghcheh.] - -We saw him one day on his way to the mosque of Abdul-Mejid, which -stands on the European shore of the Bosphorus not far from the -imperial palace of Dolmabâghcheh. To reach this palace from Galata -you pass through the populous district of Top-Khâneh, between a -great gun-foundry and an immense arsenal, and, traversing the entire -Mussulman quarter of Fundukli, which occupies the site of the ancient -Aianteion, come out upon a spacious open square on the water’s edge, -beyond which and on the shore of the Bosphorus rises the famous -residence of the sultans. - -It is the largest marble building reflected in the waters of the strait -from Seraglio hill to the mouth of the Black Sea, and can only be -embraced in a single view by taking a käik and passing along its front. -The façade, nearly a half (Italian) mile in length, looks toward Asia, -and can be seen at a great distance gleaming between the water’s blue -and deep green summits of the hills behind it. Properly speaking, -it can hardly be called a palace, since it is not the result of any -one architectural plan. The various parts are detached and present -an extraordinary mixture of styles--Arabic, Greek, Asiatic, Gothic, -Turkish, Romanesque, and Renaissance--combining the stateliness of -the royal European palaces with the almost effeminate grace and charm -of those of Granada and Seville. It might be called, instead of an -imperial palace, an imperial city, like that of the emperor of China, -and, more from the peculiarity of its arrangements than its great size, -looks as though instead of a single monarch, a dozen kings, friends -or brothers, might occupy it, dividing their time between amusement -and complete idleness. Seen from the Bosphorus, there are a series of -façades, looking like a row of theatres and temples, covered with an -indescribable mass of ornamentation, apparently, as a Turkish poet has -said, thrown broadcast by a madman’s hand, and which, like the famous -Indian pagoda, weary the eye out almost at the first glance. They seem -to be stone memorials of the mad caprices, loves, and intrigues of the -dissolute princes who have inhabited them. Rows of Doric and Ionic -pillars, light as the pole of a lance; windows framed in festooned -cornices and twisted columns; arches carved with flowers and foliage, -surmounting doors covered with fretwork; charming little balconies with -open-work sculpture; trophies, roses, vines, and garlands which knot -and intertwine with one another; delicate fancies in marble budding -forth in the entablatures, running along the balconies, surrounding -the windows; a network of arabesques extending from door to roof; a -bloom and pomp and delicacy of execution and richness of design which -lends to each one of the smaller palaces forming a part of the whole -the character of some masterpiece of the workman’s chisel; and so -impossible does it seem that the design could ever have emanated from -the brain of a placid Armenian architect that one is rather tempted to -ascribe its origin to a dream of some enamored sultan sleeping with his -head upon the breast of an ambitious lady-love. Before it stretches -a line of lofty marble pilasters connected by a gilded screenwork of -boughs and flowers intertwined with such marvellous delicacy that at -a little distance it has all the appearance of a lace curtain which -at any moment may be carried away by a puff of wind. Long flights -of marble stairs lead from the entrances to the water’s edge, and -disappear beneath the waves. Everything is white, fresh, and sparkling, -as though completed but yesterday. No doubt the eye of an artist would -detect a thousand minor errors in composition and taste; but the effect -as a whole of that vast and magnificent pile of buildings, that array -of palaces, white as the driven snow, set like so many jewels and -crowned with verdure, reflected in the shining waters below, is one of -power, of mystery, of luxurious pomp, and voluptuous pleasure which -almost supersedes that of the old Seraglio itself. Those who have -had the good fortune to see it affirm that the interior fully comes -up to the exterior of the building. Long suites of apartments, whose -walls are covered with brilliant and fantastic frescoes, open into -one another by doors of cedar and cassia-wood; corridors flooded with -soft radiance lead to other rooms lighted from crimson crystal domes, -and baths which seem to have been fashioned from a single block of -Paros marble; lofty balconies overhang mysterious gardens, and groves -of cypress and rose trees, from which, through long perspectives of -Moorish porticoes, the blue waters of the sea are seen sparkling in the -sunlight beyond; and windows, terraces, balconies, kiosks, everything, -brilliant with flowers, and everywhere cascades of water shooting -into the air to fall back in filmy showers upon green turf and marble -pavement; while in all directions there open up enchanting views of -the Bosphorus, the cool breezes from whose surface impart a delicious -freshness to every corner of the great building. - -On the side facing toward Fundukli there is an imposing entrance, -covered with a mass of ornamentation, out of which the Sultan was -expected to appear and cross the square. Not another monarch upon -earth has such beautiful surroundings in which to issue in state from -his palace and show himself to his subjects. Standing at the foot of -the hill,--on one side is the entrance to the palace, looking like a -royal triumphal arch; on the other the beautiful mosque of Abdul-Mejid, -flanked by two graceful minarets; opposite is the Bosphorus; and -beyond rise the green hills of Asia dotted over with kiosks, palaces, -mosques, and villages of every variety of form and color, like some -great scattered city decked out for a fête; farther on is seen the -smiling beauty of Skutari, with her funereal crown of cypress trees; -and between the two banks a never-ending procession of sailing vessels; -men-of-war with flags flying; crowded steamboats, looking as though -their decks were heaped with flowers; Asiatic ships of strange, -obsolete design; launches from the Seraglio; princely barges; flocks of -birds skimming over the surface of the water--a scene at once so full -of peace and regal beauty that the stranger whose eye wanders over it -as he awaits the coming of the imperial cortége finds himself picturing -the fortunate possessor of all these things as endowed with angelic -beauty and the smiling serenity of an infant. - -A half hour before the appointed time two companies of soldiers wearing -the uniform of zouaves stationed themselves in the square to keep the -way cleared for the Sultan’s passage, and before long the spectators -began to arrive in crowds. It is always amusing to take note of the -queerness and variety of the people who assemble on such occasions. -Here and there elegant private carriages were drawn up to one side, -filled with Turkish great ladies, the gigantic form of a mounted eunuch -standing guard at each door, immovable as pieces of marble; there were -hired open turnouts containing English ladies, groups of tourists with -opera-glasses hanging at their sides, among whom on this occasion I -recognized the languishing face of the irresistible youth from the -Hôtel de Byzance, come, no doubt, cruel charmer! to crush with one -triumphant glance his powerful but unhappy rival. A few long-haired -individuals wandering about the outskirts of the crowd with portfolios -under their arms I took to be artists animated by a faint hope of -being able to make a hasty sketch of the imperial features. Near the -band-stand was a strikingly beautiful French woman, whose conspicuous -dress and free, hardened bearing suggested a cosmopolitan adventuress -come hither to attract the eye of the Sultan himself, especially -as I seemed to read in her glance the “fearful joy of a mighty -enterprise.” There was also a sprinkling of those old Turks, fanatical -and suspicious subjects of the empire, who never fail to be present -whenever their Padishah appears in public, in order that they may be -assured by the evidence of their own senses that he is alive and well -for the glory and prosperity of the universe. It is, in fact, precisely -that his people may have this proof of his continued existence that -the Sultan thus shows himself every Friday, since it might easily -happen again, as it has before, that his death, brought about either -by violence or from natural causes, would through some intrigue of -the court be concealed from the populace. Then there were beggars, -and Mussulman dandies, and eunuchs out of employment, and dervishes, -among the last-named of whom I noticed one tall, old, lean specimen -who stood motionless gazing with fierce eyes and a most sinister -expression at the door of the palace, exactly as though he only awaited -the Sultan’s appearance to plant himself in his path and fling in his -teeth the words addressed by the dervish of the _Orientals_ to Pasha -Ali of Tepeleni: “Accursed one! you are no better than a dog.” But -such examples of inspired candor have gone out of fashion since the -famous sabre-thrust of Mahmûd. Then there were numbers of Turkish -women standing apart and looking like groups of masks, and the usual -gathering like a stage chorus which makes up a Constantinople crowd. -All the heads were thrown out in relief against the blue background of -the Bosphorus, and every mouth at that moment was probably whispering -the same thing. It was just then that rumors were beginning to be -circulated about the extravagant doings of Abdul-Aziz. For some -little time stories had been told of his insatiable greed for money. -People would say to one another, “Mahmûd had a passion for blood; -Abdul-Mejid for women; Abdul-Aziz has for gold.” All those hopes built -upon him when as prince imperial he felled an ox at a single blow, -exclaiming, “Thus will I destroy ignorance,” had died out some time -before. The tastes he had evinced in the early years of his reign for -a simple and severe mode of life, caring, as was said, for only one -woman, and cutting down with an unsparing hand the enormous expenses -of the Seraglio, were now but a distant memory. Probably it had been -many years as well since he had finally abandoned those studies in -legislation and military tactics and European literature about which he -had made as much noise as though the entire regeneration of the empire -was to be effected through them; now he thought only of himself, and -hardly a day passed that some new anecdote was not set in circulation -about his bursts of wrath against the minister of finance, who either -would not or could not give him as much money as he demanded. At the -least opposition he would hurl the first object on which he could lay -his hands at his unfortunate Excellency, repeating from beginning to -end and at the top of his voice the ancient formula of the imperial -oath: “By God, the Creator of heaven and earth, by the prophet -Mohammed, by the seven variations of the Koran, by the hundred and -twenty-four thousand prophets of God, by the soul of my grandfather -and by the soul of my father, by my sons and by my sword! give me money -or I will have your head stuck on the point of the highest minaret in -Stambul.” And by one means or another he always succeeded in getting -what he wanted, sometimes gloating over the money thus acquired like -a common miser over his hoard, at others scattering it to the winds -in the indulgence of all manner of puerile fancies. To-day he would -take a sudden interest in lions, to-morrow in tigers, and agents would -be despatched forthwith to India and Africa to purchase them for him; -then for a whole month five hundred parrots stationed in the imperial -gardens made them resound with one single word; then he was seized with -a mania for collecting carriages, and for pianos, which he insisted -upon having played supported upon the backs of four slaves; then he -took to cock-fighting--would witness the combats with enthusiastic -interest, and himself fasten a medal around the neck of the victor, -driving the vanquished into exile beyond the Bosphorus; then he had a -passion for play, then for kiosks, then for pictures: it was as though -the court had gone back to the days of the first Ibrahim. - -But with it all the unfortunate prince was unable to find peace; he -was moody and taciturn, and only succeeded in alternating between -utter weariness of soul and the most wretched state of apprehension. -As though with an uneasy foreboding of the tragic fate awaiting him, -he would sometimes be possessed with the idea that he was going to -be poisoned, and for a while, mistrusting every one about him, would -refuse to eat anything but hard-boiled eggs. Then, again, he would be -haunted by such a dread of fire that he would have everything in his -apartments, made of wood, removed, to the very frames of the mirrors; -it was even said that at these times he would read at night by the -light of a candle placed in a basin of water. And yet, notwithstanding -all these follies, which were supposed to have their origin in a cause -of which there is no necessity to speak here, he preserved to the full -the original strength of his indomitable will, and knew how to make -himself both obeyed and feared by the most independent spirits around -him. The only person who exerted any influence over him at all was his -mother, a vain, foolish woman, who in the early years of his reign used -to have the streets through which he must pass on his way to the mosque -spread with brocaded carpets, which she would give away the following -day to the slaves who were sent to take them up. - -In the midst of all the turmoil of his restless life Abdul-Aziz found -time as well for the most trivial whims, such as the having a door -painted after a particular design, combinations of certain fruits and -flowers, and, after giving the most minute directions, would spend -hours watching every stroke of the artist’s brush, as though that were -the main business of life. - -All these eccentricities, exaggerated--who knows to what extent?--by -the thousand tongues of the Seraglio, were in every one’s mouth; and -possibly from that time on the threads of the conspiracy which two -years later was to hurl him from the throne were woven more and more -closely about the unhappy prince. According to the Mussulmans, his -fall had already been determined upon and judgment passed upon him -and upon his reign--a judgment which does not differ in any essential -point from that applicable to any other one of the later sultans. -Imperial princes, attracted toward a European civilization by a -liberal but superficial education, their youthful imaginations all on -fire with dreams of reform and glory, before mounting the throne they -indulge in visions of the great changes they are to bring about, and -form resolutions, no doubt perfectly sincere at the time, to dedicate -their entire lives to that end, leading an existence of struggle and -self-denial. Then they come to the throne, and after some years of -ineffectual resistance, confronted by thousands of obstacles, hemmed -in by customs and traditions, balked and opposed by men and things, -appalled at the immensity of the undertaking, of which they had formed -no true idea, they become discouraged, lapse into indolence, grow -suspicious, and finally turn to pleasure-seeking and self-indulgence -for that distraction which seems to be denied them in the successful -carrying out of their designs, and, leading an utterly sensual life, -lose little by little even the memory of their early ambitions, as well -as the consciousness of their own deterioration. Thus it happens that -every new reign is ushered in with the most hopeful prognostications, -and not without reason; only these are as invariably succeeded by -disappointment. - -Abdul-Aziz did not keep us waiting: at the hour fixed there was a -flourish of trumpets, the band struck up a warlike march, the soldiers -presented arms, a company of lancers made their appearance suddenly in -the gateway, and after them the Sultan on horseback, advancing slowly -and followed by the members of his court. He passed so close in front -of me that I had an excellent opportunity of examining his features -attentively, and of finding how singularly incorrect was the picture -I had formed of him in my mind. The “king of kings,” the prodigal, -violent, capricious, imperious Sultan, then about forty-four years old, -had the air of an extremely good-natured Turk who had found himself -a sultan without quite knowing why. He was stout and robust, with -good features, large calm eyes, and a short, close-cut beard, already -somewhat grizzled: his countenance was open and placid, his bearing -easy, almost careless, and in his calm, indifferent expression no -trace of consciousness of the thousand eyes fixed upon him could be -discovered. He rode a handsome gray horse with gold-mounted trappings, -led by the bridle by two gorgeous grooms. The long distance at which -the retinue followed would have pointed him out as the Sultan if -nothing else had. He was very plainly dressed, wearing a simple fez, -long dark coat buttoned close up under the chin, light trousers, -and leather shoes. Advancing very slowly, he looked around on the -spectators with an expression of mingled benevolence and weariness, as -though saying, “Ah, if you did but know how sick of it all I am!” The -Mussulmans all bowed profoundly, and many Europeans raised their hats, -but he took no notice of any one’s salutation. Passing in front of us, -he gave a glance at a tall officer who saluted with his sword, another -at the Bosphorus, and then a much longer look at two young English -ladies who were watching him from a carriage, and who turned as red as -cherries. I noticed that his hand was white and well formed: it was, by -the way, the right hand, the same with which two years after he opened -the vein in the bath. After him followed a crowd of pashas, courtiers, -and prominent officials on horseback, for the most part sturdy, -black-bearded men, simply dressed, and as silent, grave, and taciturn -as though they were part of a funeral cortége: then came a group of -grooms leading splendid-looking horses; then more officers, these on -foot, their breasts covered with gold braid: when these last had -passed the soldiers lowered their muskets, the crowd began to scatter -over the square, and I found myself standing gazing at the summit of -Mt. Bulgûrlû, revolving in my mind the extraordinary situation in which -a sultan of Stambul must find himself now-a-days. - -He is, said I, a Mohammedan monarch, and his royal palace stands in -the shadow of a Christian city, Pera, which towers above his head. -He is an absolute sovereign, holding sway over one of the largest -empires in the world, and yet here in his capital and not far away -there live in those great palaces which overlook his Seraglio four or -five ceremonious foreigners who lord it over him in his own house, and -who in their intercourse with him conceal under the most respectful -language a constant menace, which he acknowledges and fears. He has -power over the life and property of millions of his subjects, and the -means of gratifying every whim, no matter how extravagant, and yet -could not, if he wanted to, alter the fashion of his own headgear. -Surrounded by an army of courtiers and body-guards, who, if required, -would kneel down and kiss his footprints, he stands in constant fear -of his life and that of his sons. Absolute master of a thousand among -the most beautiful women on earth, he alone among all Mussulmans in -his dominions cannot bestow his hand in marriage upon a free woman, -can only have sons of slaves, and is himself termed “the son of a -slave” by the same people who call him “the shadow of God.” The sound -of his name is feared and reverenced from the farthermost confines of -Tartary to the uttermost bounds of Maghreb, and in his own capital -there is an ever-increasing number of persons over whom he can claim no -shadow of control, and who laugh at him, his power, and his religion. -Over the entire surface of his immense domain, among the most wretched -tribes of the most distant provinces, in the most isolated mosques and -monasteries of the wildest regions, fervent prayers are constantly -ascending for his safety, health, and honor, and yet he cannot make a -journey anywhere in his empire that he does not find himself surrounded -by enemies who execrate his name and call down the vengeance of God -upon his head. In the eyes of that part of the world which lies outside -his palace-gates he is one of the most august and imposing monarchs -upon earth; to those who wait at his elbow he seems the weakest, most -pusillanimous, and wretched being that ever wore a crown. A resistless -current of ideas, beliefs, and forces, all directly opposed to the -traditions and spirit upon which his power rests, sweeps over him, -transforming before his very eyes, underneath his feet, all about him, -customs, habits, laws, the very men and objects themselves, without -his assistance or consent. And there he is between Europe and Asia, -in his huge palace washed by the sea-waves as though it were a ship -ready to set sail, in the midst of an inextricable confusion of ideas -and things, surrounded by fabulous luxury and misery unspeakable, -_neither two nor one_--no longer a real Mussulman, nor yet a complete -European; reigning over a people changed, though only in part, -barbarians at heart, with a whitewash of civilization; two-faced like -Janus; worshipped like a god, watched like a slave; adored, deceived, -beguiled, while every day that passes over his head extinguishes a -ray of the halo that surrounds him and removes another stone from -the pedestal upon which he stands. It seems to me, were I in his -place, weary of such a condition of things, satiated with pleasure, -disgusted with adulation, and outdone with the constant surveillance -and suspicion to which I was subjected, I would lose all patience -with a sovereignty so onerous and unstable, a rule over conditions so -hopelessly at war with themselves, and some time at night, when the -entire Seraglio was buried in slumber, would jump in the Bosphorus like -a fugitive galley-slave, and, swimming off to Galata, pass the hours -till dawn in some mariners’ tavern, with a glass of beer and a clay -pipe, shouting the Marseillaise in chorus. - -[Illustration: Palace of the Sultan on the Bosphorus.] - -A half hour later the Sultan returned, driven rapidly by, this time in -a closed carriage, followed by a number of officers on foot; and the -show was over. I think, on the whole, that what impressed me most -vividly was the sight of those officers, attired in full dress, running -and skipping after the imperial equipage like so many lackeys: I have -never witnessed a similar prostitution of the military uniform. - -This spectacle of the state appearance of the Sultan is, as may be -seen, a poor affair enough, very different from what it once was. -Formerly the sultans only showed themselves in public surrounded by -great pomp and display, preceded and followed by a gorgeous retinue of -horsemen, slaves, guards of the gardens, chamberlains, and eunuchs, -which when seen from a distance resembled, to use the simile of the -enthusiastic chroniclers of the day, “a vast bed of tulips.” In these -days the sultans seem to rather avoid all such display, as though it -would be a piece of theatrical ostentation, representing an order -of things which no longer exists. I often asked myself what one of -those early monarchs would say if, rising for a moment from his -sepulchre in Brusa or türbeh in Stambul, he should behold one of his -descendants of the nineteenth century pass by clad in a long black -coat, without turban, sword, or jewels, and making his way through a -crowd of insolent foreigners: probably he would grow red in the face -with rage and shame, and, to show his utter disdain, would treat him -as Suleiman I. did Hassan--seize him by his beard and cut it off with -his cimeter, than which no more poignant insult can be offered to an -Osman. And, indeed, between the sultans of to-day and those whose names -resounded like claps of thunder throughout Europe from the twelfth -to the sixteenth century there is as much difference as between the -Ottoman empire of our times and that of the early centuries. To their -lot fell the youth, beauty, and vigor of the race; and they were not -only the living representatives of their people, glorious examples, -precious pearls in the sword of Islamism, but they constituted a -distinct force in themselves. The personal qualities of these powerful -rulers formed one of the most potent factors in the marvellous growth -of the Ottoman power during that period of its youth which covered -the hundred and twenty-three years from Osman to Muhammad II. Truly, -that was a succession of mighty princes, and, with a single exception, -not only powerful, but, if you take into consideration the times in -which they lived and conditions of their race, austere and wise as -well, and deeply beloved by their people--frequently ferocious, but -rarely unjust, and often kind and generous to their enemies. All of -these, too, as princes of such a race should be, were handsome and -imposing in appearance, veritable lions, as their mothers termed them, -at whose roar the whole earth trembled. The Abdul-Mejids, Abdul-Azizs, -and Murads are but pale shadows of padishahs in comparison with those -formidable youths, sons of fathers and mothers of eighteen and fifteen -respectively, offspring of the flower of Tartar blood and bloom of -Greek, Caucasian, and Persian beauty. At fourteen they commanded -armies, governed provinces, and were presented by their mothers with -slaves as beautiful and ardent as themselves. Sons were born to them at -sixteen as well as at seventy, and they retained their youthful vigor -of mind and body to old age. Their spirit, said the poets, was of iron, -their bodies were of steel. Certain features which they all possessed -in common were lost later on by their degenerate descendants--high -foreheads, with arched eyebrows meeting like those of the Persians; -the blue eyes of the sons of the Steppes; a curved nose above crimson -lips, “like the beak of a parrot over a cherry;” and very thick black -beards, which exhausted the fertility of the Seraglio poets to find -meet comparisons for. They had the piercing glance of the eagle of -Mt. Taurus and the endurance of the king of the desert; bull necks, -enormously wide shoulders, expanding chests, “capable of containing all -the warlike ardor of their people;” very long arms, huge muscles, short -bowed legs, under whose grip the most powerful Turkomanian chargers -would neigh with pain; and great shaggy hands, which tossed the -bronze maces and mighty bows of the soldiery about as though they had -been reeds. And their surnames fitted them well--wrestler, champion, -thunderbolt, bone-grinder, blood-shedder. After Allah, war occupied -the chief place in their thoughts, and death the least. Although they -did not possess the genius of great commanders, they were endowed with -that power of prompt and quick action which almost takes its place, -and a ferocious obstinacy which not infrequently accomplishes the same -results. They swept like winged furies across the field of battle, -the heron-quills fastened in their white turbans and the ample folds -of their purple and gold-embroidered caftans showing from afar, as -with savage cries they drove forward the decimated ranks of sciari -whose ox-like nerves had at last given way under the demoralizing -fire of Servian and German guns. They swam their horses across rivers -whose waters were reddened with blood from their dripping cimeters; -they would seize cowardly or panicstricken pashas by their throats, -dragging them from the saddle in their headlong flight; leap from -their horses in a time of rout and plunge their jewelled daggers up to -the hilt in the backs of the flying soldiers; and, mortally wounded, -would conceal the hurt and mount upon some eminence on the battlefield -that their janissaries might behold the countenance of their lord, -pallid with death, but threatening and imperious to the last, until, -finally sinking exhausted to the earth, they would roar with rage, -maybe, but never with pain. What must the sensations have been of one -of those gentle Persian or Circassian slaves, hardly more than a -child, when on the evening of a day of battle she beheld for the first -time, in the door of her purple tent, under the subdued lamplight, -the terrific apparition of one of those all-powerful sultans, drunk -with victory and blood. But he could be tender and winning as well, -and, gently taking the trembling little fingers in his mighty hands, -still cramped from wielding the cimeter, search his imagination for -pretty figures of speech to reassure his frightened slave, comparing -her beauty to the flowers in his gardens, the jewels in his dagger, -the most gorgeous birds in the forests, the most exquisite tints of a -sunrise in Anatolia or Mesopotamia, until at last, taking courage, she -would reply in the same impassioned and fanciful language: “Crown of my -head! glory of my life! my beloved and mighty lord! may thy countenance -ever shine with splendor on the two worlds of Africa and Europe! may -victory follow wherever thy horse shall bear thee! may thy shadow -extend over the whole earth! Would I were a rose to exhale sweetness -in the folds of thy turban! a butterfly beating its wings against thy -forehead!” And then, as her all-powerful lover reposed his mighty head -upon her breast, she would recount childish tales of emerald palaces -and mountains of gold, while all around the wild and savage soldiers -of the army lay extended fast asleep upon the dark, bloodstained -earth. All weakness, however, was left within the tent, from which -these sultans came forth more hardy and imperious than ever. They -were tender in the harem, ferocious on the battlefield, humble in the -mosque, and haughty on the throne. Their language was full of glowing -hyperboles and appalling threats; any judgment once pronounced by them -was irrevocable; the war was declared, the subject elevated to the -pinnacle of greatness, the head of the victim rolled at the foot of -the throne, or a tempest of fire and sword drove furiously across the -face of a rebel province. Thus sweeping from Persia to the Danube, from -Asia to Macedonia, in a continual succession of wars and triumphs, -with intervals devoted to the pursuit of love and in hunting, to the -flower of their youth there succeeded a maturity even more vigorous and -ardent, followed by an old age of which their horses’ flanks, their -sword-blades, or the hearts of their favorites could not have been -conscious. And not in old age alone, but sometimes in the very flower -and vigor of their youth, they would become overpowered with a sense -of their position, dismayed in the very moment of victory and triumph -by the tremendous responsibility resting upon them, and, seized with -a sort of terror at the magnitude and loneliness of their own exalted -state, would turn to God with all the force of their natures, passing -days and nights in composing religious poetry in dim recesses of the -palace-gardens, betaking themselves to the seashore to meditate by the -hour upon the Koran, joining the frantic dances of the dervishes, or -reducing themselves with fasting and sackcloth in the company of some -devout old hermit. In death as in life they furnished their people -with examples either of fortitude or of majesty--whether dying with -the serenity of a saint, like the founder of the dynasty; or laden -with years and glory and melancholy, like Orkhan; or by the hand of a -traitor, like Murad I.; or in the misery of exile, like Bayezid; or -calmly conversing with a circle of poets and scholars, like the first -Muhammad; or from the mortification of defeat, like the second Murad. -And one may safely assert that there is nothing upon the blood-red -horizon of Ottoman history which can compare with the threatening -phantoms of these formidable rulers. - - -END OF VOLUME I. - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a -predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not -changed. Several spurious commas were removed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced -quotation marks retained. - -Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. - -Page 241: “wings of the loves” probably should be “doves”. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Constantinople, Vol. I (of 2), by Edmondo de Amicis - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSTANTINOPLE, VOL. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Constantinople, Vol. I (of 2) - -Author: Edmondo de Amicis - -Translator: Maria Hornor Lansdale - -Release Date: April 10, 2016 [EBook #51728] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSTANTINOPLE, VOL. I (OF 2) *** - - - - -Produced by Josep Cols Canals, Charlie Howard, and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(This file was produced from images generously made -available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="transnote covernote"> -<p class="center larger">Transcriber’s Note</p> -<p class="center">Text was added to the original cover by Transcriber and placed in the Public Domain.</p> -</div> - -<div id="if_i_000" class="newpage p1 figcenter" style="width: 501px;"> - <img src="images/i_000.jpg" width="501" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">The Mihrab of the Mosque of Roustem Pasha, - Showing Persian Tiles.</div></div> - -<h1 class="gesperrt">CONSTANTINOPLE.</h1> - -<p class="p2 center vspace"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br /> -<span class="larger wspace">EDMONDO DE AMICIS,</span><br /> -<span class="small"><span class="smcap">Author of “Holland,” “Spain and the Spaniards,” etc.</span></span></p> - -<p class="p2 center vspace2"><span class="smaller">TRANSLATED FROM THE FIFTEENTH ITALIAN EDITION BY</span><br /> -<span class="larger wspace">MARIA HORNOR LANSDALE.</span></p> - -<p class="p2 center larger">ILLUSTRATED.</p> - -<p class="p2 center vspace2 wspace">IN TWO VOLUMES.<br /> -<span class="smcap larger">Vol. I.</span></p> - -<p class="p2 center vspace wspace">PHILADELPHIA:<br /> -<span class="larger">HENRY T. COATES & CO.</span><br /> -<span class="gesperrt">1896.</span> -</p> - -<hr /> - -<p class="newpage p4 center vspace smaller"> -<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1896, by</span><br /> -HENRY T. COATES & CO. -</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3">3</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> - -<table summary="Contents"> - <tr class="small"> - <td> </td> - <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Arrival</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#h_7">7</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Five Hours Later</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#h_33">33</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Bridge</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#h_43">43</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Stambul</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#h_59">59</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Along the Golden Horn</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#h_85">85</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Great Bazâr</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#h_121">121</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Life in Constantinople</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#h_159">159</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">St. Sophia</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#h_247">247</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dolmabâghcheh</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#h_279">279</a></td></tr> -</table> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5">5</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">VOLUME I.</span></h2> - -<p class="p1 center smaller">Photogravures by <span class="smcap">W. H. Gilbo</span>.</p> - -<table summary="List of Illustrations"> - <tr class="small"> - <td> </td> - <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Mihrab of the Mosque of Roustem Pasha, showing Persian Tiles</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_000"><i>Frontispiece.</i></a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Mosques of Sultan Ahmed and St. Sophia</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_020">21</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">View of Pera and Galata</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_028">29</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Ancient Fountain</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_038">39</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Bridge of Galata</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_044">45</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Fountain of Court of the Mosque of Ahmed</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_064">65</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Burnt Column of Constantine</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_070">70</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Tower of Galata</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_090">90</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Panorama of the Arsenal and Golden Horn</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_104">105</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Date-seller</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_130">131</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">View of Stambul, Mosque of Validêh, and Bridge</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_160">161</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Serpentine Column of Delphi</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_166">167</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Group of Dogs</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_178">179</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Types of Turkish Soldiers</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_188">189</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Turkish Official</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_200">200</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Türbeh of Sultan Selim II. in St. Sophia</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_216">216</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Interior of Mosque of Ahmed</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_226">227</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Entrance and Tower of Serasker</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_240">243</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Entrance to St. Sophia</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_242">249</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6">6</a></span></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Fountain of Ahmed</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_248">251</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Mosque of St. Sophia</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_254">255</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Interior of the Mosque of St. Sophia</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_260">260</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">First Columns erected in St. Sophia</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_262">263</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Palace of Dolmabâghcheh</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_280">281</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Palace of the Sultan on the Bosphorus</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#if_i_296">296</a></td></tr> -</table> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7">7</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="h_7">THE ARRIVAL.</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9">9</a></span> -The arrival at Constantinople made such an overpowering -impression upon me as to almost efface -what I had seen during the previous ten days’ trip -from the Straits of Messina to the mouth of the -Bosphorus. The Ionian Sea, blue and unruffled as -a lake; the distant mountains of Morea, tinged with -rose color in the early morning light; the archipelago, -gilded with the rays of the setting sun; the -ruins of Athens; the Gulf of Salonika, Lemnos, -Tenedos, the Dardanelles, and a crowd of persons and -events which had caused me infinite amusement -during the voyage,—faded into such indistinct and -shadowy outlines at the first sight of the Golden -Horn that were I now to undertake a description of -them it would be an effort rather of imagination than -of memory; and so, in order to impart something -of life and warmth to the opening pages of my book, -I shall omit all preliminaries and begin with the last -evening of the voyage at the precise moment when, -in the middle of the Sea of Marmora, the captain -came up to my friend Yunk and me, and, laying his -two hands on our shoulders, said, in his pure Palerman<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10">10</a></span> -accent, “Gentlemen, to-morrow at daybreak we -shall see the first minarets of Stambul.”</p> - -<p>Ah! you smile, my good reader, you who have -plenty of money and are tired of spending it—who, -when a year or so ago the fancy seized you to go to -Constantinople in twenty-four hours, with your purse -well lined and your trunks packed, set forth as -calmly as if it were a trip to the country, uncertain -up to the last moment whether, after all, it might not -pay better to take the train for Baden-Baden instead. -If the captain had said to you, “To-morrow morning -we shall see Stambul,” you would probably have -answered, quite calmly, “Indeed? I am very glad -to hear it.” But suppose, instead, you had brooded -over the idea for ten years; had passed many a -winter’s evening mournfully studying the map of the -East; had fired your imagination by reading hundreds -of books on the subject; had travelled over -one-half of Europe merely to console yourself for -not being able to see the other half; had remained -nailed to your desk for a whole year with this sole -object in view; had made a thousand petty sacrifices -and calculations without end; had erected whole -rows of castles in the air, and fought many a stiff -battle with those of your own household; and finally -had passed nine sleepless nights at sea haunted by -this intoxicating vision, and so blissfully happy as to -have a twinge of something like remorse at the -thought of all your loved ones left behind;—then<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11">11</a></span> -you would have some idea of the real meaning of -those words: “To-morrow at daybreak we shall see -the first minarets of Stambul;” and instead of replying -phlegmatically, “I am glad to hear it,” you -would have given a great thump on the bulkhead, -as I did.</p> - -<p>One great source of satisfaction to my friend and -myself was our profound conviction that, boundless -as our expectations might be, they could not possibly -be foiled. About Constantinople there is no -uncertainty, and the most pessimistic traveller feels -that there, at least, he is safe, since no one has ever -been disappointed; and this, moreover, has nothing -to do with the charm of its great associations or the -fashion of admiring what every one else does. It -has a beauty of its own, at once overmastering and -triumphant, before which poets, archeologists, ambassadors, -and merchants, the princess and the -sailor, people of the North and of the South, one -and all, break forth into loud exclamations of astonishment. -In the opinion of the whole world it is -the most beautiful spot on earth. Writers of travels -on arriving there at once lose their heads. Perthusier -falls to stammering; Tournefort declares that -human language is powerless; Pouqueville thinks -himself transported to another world; Gautier cannot -believe that what he sees is real; the Viscount di -Marcellus falls into ecstasies; La Croix is intoxicated; -Lamartine returns thanks to God; and all of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12">12</a></span> -them, heaping metaphor upon metaphor, endeavor to -make their style more glowing, and search their imaginations -in vain for some simile that shall not fall -miserably short of their ideas. Chateaubriand alone -describes his arrival at Constantinople with such apparent -tranquillity of soul as to strongly suggest the -idea of stupor, but he does not fail to observe that -it is the most beautiful thing in the world; and if -the celebrated Lady Montague, in pronouncing a -similar opinion, has allowed herself the use of a <i>perhaps</i>, -she clearly wishes it to be tacitly understood -that the first place belongs to her own beauty, of -which she had a very high opinion. It is, after all, -a cold German who declares that the most beautiful -illusions of youth, the very dreams of first love, -become poor and insipid when contrasted with the -delicious sensations which steal upon the soul at the -first sight of those charmed shores, while a learned -Frenchman affirms that the first impression made by -Constantinople is one of terror.</p> - -<p>Imagine, then, if you can, the effect produced by -all these impassioned statements on the ardent -brains of a clever painter of twenty-four and a bad -poet of twenty-eight! But still, not satisfied with -even all this illustrious praise of Constantinople, we -turned to the sailors to see what they would have to -say about it; and here it was the same thing. Ordinary -language was felt by even these rough men -to be inadequate, and they rolled their eyes and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13">13</a></span> -rubbed their hands together in the effort to find -unusual words and phrases in which to express themselves, -attempting their description in that far-away -tone of voice and with the slow, uncertain gestures -used by uneducated persons when they try to recount -something wonderful. “To arrive at Constantinople -on a fine morning,” said the helmsman—“believe -me, gentlemen, <i>that is a great moment in a -man’s life</i>.”</p> - -<p>The weather, too, smiled upon us. It was a fine, -calm night; the water lapped the sides of the vessel -with a gentle murmuring sound, while the masts and -rigging stood out clear and motionless against the -sky sparkling with stars. We seemed hardly to -move. In the bow a crowd of Turks lay stretched -out at full length, blissfully smoking their hookahs -with faces turned to the moon, whose light, falling -upon their white turbans, made them look like silvery -haloes; on the promenade deck was a concourse -of people of every nationality under the sun, -among them a company of hungry-looking Greek -comedians who had embarked at Piræus.</p> - -<p>I can see before me now the pretty face of little -Olga, one of a bevy of Russian children going with -their mother to Odessa, very much astonished at my -not understanding her language, and somewhat displeased -at having addressed the same question to me -three consecutive times without obtaining an intelligible -answer. Here on one side a fat, dirty Greek<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14">14</a></span> -priest, wearing a hat like an inverted bushel-measure, -is looking through his glass for the Sea of Marmora, -and on the other, an English evangelical -clergyman is standing stiff and unyielding as a -statue, who for three days past has not spoken to a -soul nor looked at any one; near by are two pretty -Athenian girls in their little red caps, with hair hanging -down over their shoulders, who turn simultaneously -toward the water whenever they find any -one looking at them, in order to show their profiles, -while a little farther off an Armenian merchant is -telling the beads of his Greek rosary. Near him is a -group of Hebrews, dressed in their antique costume, -some Arabians in long white gowns, a melancholy-minded -French governess, and a few of those nondescript -personages one always meets in travelling, -about whom there is nothing particular to indicate -their country or occupation; and in the centre of all -this mixed company a little Turkish family, consisting -of a father wearing a fez, a veiled mother, and -two little girls in trousers, all four curled up under a -tent on a pile of many-colored pillows and cushions, -and surrounded by a motley collection of luggage of -every shape and hue.</p> - -<p>How one realized the vicinity of Constantinople! -On all sides there was an unwonted gayety, and the -faces lit up by the ship’s lights were all happy ones. -The group of children skipped around their mother -shouting the ancient Russian name of Stambul:<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15">15</a></span> -“Zavegorod! Zavegorod!” Passing near one and -another of the little groups, I caught the names -of Galata, Pera, Skutari, Bujukdere, Terapia, which -acted upon my excited brain like stray sparks from -the preliminaries of some grand display of fireworks. -Even the sailors were delighted to be nearing a place -where, as they said, one forgets, if only for a single -hour, all the troubles of life. Among the white -turbans in the bow as well there were unusual signs -of life: the imaginations of even those sluggish and -impassive Mussulmen were stirred as there began to -float before their minds the magic outlines of <i>Ummelunia</i>, -“Mother of the World”—that city, as says -the Koran, “which commands on one side the earth, -and on two, the sea.” It seemed as though, had the -engine been stopped, the ship must still have gone -on, impelled forward by the sheer force of that impatient -longing which throbbed and palpitated from -her decks. From time to time, as I leaned over the -side and looked down at the water, a hundred different -voices seemed to mingle with the murmur of the -waves—the voices of all those who cared for me. -“Go,” they said, “son, brother, friend! Go and -enjoy your Constantinople. You have well earned -it; now enjoy yourself, and God be with you!”</p> - -<p>It was midnight before the passengers began to -disperse, my friend and I being the last to go, and -then with lingering steps. We could not bear to shut -up between four walls an exuberance of joy as compared<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16">16</a></span> -with which the Circle of Propontis seemed -narrow and contracted. Halfway down the stair we -heard the captain’s voice inviting us to come on the -bridge the next morning. “Be up before sunrise,” -he cried, appearing at the top of the companion-way; -“whoever is late will be thrown overboard.”</p> - -<p>A more superfluous threat was never made since -the world began. I did not close my eyes, and I -don’t believe that the youthful Muhammad II. on -that famous night of Adrianople when he tore his -bed to pieces, agitated by visions of Constantine’s -city, tossed and turned more than did I throughout -those four hours of expectation. In order to quiet -my nerves I tried counting up to a thousand, keeping -my eyes fixed on the line of white spray thrown -up against my port by the movement of the vessel, -humming monotonous tunes set to the throbbing of -the engine, but all in vain. I was hot and feverish, -my breath was labored, and the night seemed -endless. At the first glimmer of dawn I leaped out -of bed, to find Yunk already up; we tore into our -clothes, and in three bounds were on deck.</p> - -<p>Despair! It was foggy.</p> - -<p>A thick, impenetrable mist concealed the horizon -on every side, and it looked like rain; so the great -spectacle of the approach to Constantinople was lost, -all our hopes dashed, the voyage, in short, a failure. -I was completely stunned.</p> - -<p>At this moment the captain appeared, wearing his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17">17</a></span> -accustomed cheerful smile. Explanations were unnecessary. -The instant his eye fell on us he took in -the situation, and, patting me on the shoulder, said, -consolingly, “That will be all right; don’t give yourselves -the slightest concern. This fog, for which -you ought to be very thankful, will help us to -make the most glorious entrance into Constantinople -one could possibly desire. In two hours, you -may take my word for it, the sky will be absolutely -clear.” At these brave words my blood began -to circulate freely again, and we followed him to the -bridge.</p> - -<p>The Turks were already assembled in the bow, -seated cross-legged upon strips of carpet, with their -faces turned toward Constantinople. Presently the -other passengers began to appear, armed with glasses -of all sizes and styles, and took their places, one -after another, along the port rail of the vessel, like -people in the gallery of a theatre waiting for the -curtain to rise. A fresh breeze was blowing; no -one spoke, but gradually every glass was levelled -upon the northern shore of the Sea of Marmora, -where, as yet, nothing could be seen.</p> - -<p>The fog, however, had lifted so rapidly that it was -now little more than a filmy veil hanging over the -horizon, while above it the heavens shone out clear -and resplendent. Directly ahead of us could be -seen indistinctly the little archipelago of the three -Isles of the Princes, the <i>Demonesi</i> of the ancients,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18">18</a></span> -and the favorite pleasure-grounds of the court in the -time of the Byzantine Empire, now a popular resort -and place of amusement for the people of Constantinople.</p> - -<p>Both shores of the Sea of Marmora were still -completely hidden.</p> - -<p>It was not until an hour had gone by that at last -there <span class="locked">appeared——</span></p> - -<p>But there is no use in attempting to understand a -description of the approach to Constantinople without -first having a clear idea of the plan of the city. -Supposing the reader to stand facing the mouth of -the Bosphorus, that arm of the sea which separates -Asia from Europe and connects the Black Sea with -the Sea of Marmora, he will have on his right the -continent of Asia, on his left, Europe; here ancient -Thrace, there ancient Anatolia. Following this arm, -he will find on his left, immediately beyond its -mouth, a gulf, or rather an extremely narrow bay, -forming with the Bosphorus almost a right angle, -and stretching for some miles into the continent of -Europe, in the shape of an ox’s horn; hence the -name Golden Horn, or Horn of Abundance, because, -when the capital of Byzantium was here, the -wealth of three continents flowed through it. On -that point of land, bathed on the one hand by the -Sea of Marmora and by the Golden Horn on the -other, on the site of ancient Byzantium, rises, on its -seven hills, Stambul, the Turkish city; across from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19">19</a></span> -it, on the other point, washed by the waters of the -Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, lie Galata and -Pera, the Frankish cities; while on the Asiatic shore, -directly opposite the opening of the Golden Horn, -Skutari rises from the sea. Thus what is called -Constantinople is, in reality, three large cities -separated by the sea—two lying opposite each other, -and the third facing them both, and all so near -together that from each of the three it is possible to -distinguish the buildings of the other two nearly as -distinctly as one can see across the widest parts of -the Thames or the Seine. The point of the triangle -occupied by Stambul, which curves back toward the -Horn, is the celebrated Cape Seraglio, which conceals -up to the very last moment, from any one approaching -from the Sea of Marmora, the two banks -of the Golden Horn; that is to say, the largest and -most beautiful part of Constantinople.</p> - -<p>It was the captain at last, with his trained sailor’s -eye, who discovered the first shadowy outline of -Stambul.</p> - -<p>The two Athenian ladies, the Russian family, the -English clergyman, Yunk, I, and a number of others, -all of whom were going to Constantinople for the -first time, had gathered around him in a group, silent, -absorbed, every eye intent on trying to pierce -through the fog, when, suddenly throwing his left -arm out toward the European shore, he exclaimed, -“Ladies and gentlemen, I see the first building!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20">20</a></span> -It was a white peak, the summit of some very -high minaret whose base remained as yet completely -hidden. Immediately every glass was levelled at it, -and every eye began to burrow in that little rent in -the haze as though trying to make it larger. The -ship was now steaming rapidly ahead. In a few -minutes an uncertain shape was visible beside the -minaret, then another, then two, then three, then -many more, which, stretching out in an endless line, -gradually assumed the appearance of houses. On -the right and ahead of us everything was still concealed -by the fog. That which was now coming into -view was the part of Stambul which extends like -the arc of a circle for about three miles, from Cape -Seraglio along the northern shore of the Sea of -Marmora to the Castle of the Seven Towers; but the -Seraglio hill was still invisible. Beyond the houses, -one after another, the minarets now flashed into sight, -white, lofty, their peaks touched with rose color by -the rising sun. Below the houses we could begin to -distinguish the dark line of the ancient walls, uneven -and tortuous, strengthened at regular intervals by -massive towers, their foundations partially washed -by the sea-waves, and encircling the entire city. -Before long fully two miles of the city lay before us -in full view, but, to tell the truth, the sight fell -decidedly short of my expectations. It was just -here that Lamartine asked himself, “Can this be -Constantinople?” and cried, “What a disappointment!”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21">21</a></span> -The hills being still hidden, nothing was to -be seen but interminable lines of houses along -the shore, and the city was apparently perfectly flat. -“Captain,” I too cried, “is this Constantinople?” -The captain seized me by the arm and pointed -ahead. “O man of little faith!” said he, “look -there!” I looked, and an exclamation of amazement -escaped me. A shadowy form, vast, impalpable, -towering heavenward from a lofty eminence, rose -before us, its graceful outlines still partially obscured -by a filmy cloud of vapor, and surrounding it four -tall and graceful minarets whose peaks shone like -silver as they caught the first rays of the morning -sun. “St. Sophia!” cried a sailor, and one of the -Athenian ladies murmured in an undertone, “Hagia -Sofia!” (Holy Wisdom). The Turks in the bow at -once rose to their feet. And now before and around -the great basilica were discernible through the fog -other vast domes and minarets crowded close together -like a forest of gigantic branchless palms. -“The mosque of Sultan Ahmed!” cried the captain, -pointing; “the Bayezid mosque, the mosque of -Osman, the Laleli mosque, the Suleimaniyeh!”</p> - -<div id="if_i_020" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_020.jpg" width="600" height="403" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Mosques of Sultan Ahmed and St. Sophia.</div></div> - -<p>But no one was listening. The mist was now -rapidly melting away, and in every direction there -leaped into view mosques, towers, masses of green, -tier above tier of houses. The farther we advanced, -the more the city unfolded before us her charming -outlines, irregular, picturesque, sparkling, and tinged<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22">22</a></span> -with every hue of the rainbow, while the Seraglio -hill now emerged completely from the fog and stood -out clear and distinct against the gray mass of cloud -behind it. Four miles of city, all that part of Stambul -which overlooks the Sea of Marmora, lay -stretched out before us, her black walls and many-colored -houses reflected in the limpid water as in a -mirror.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the vessel came to a standstill. Every -one crowded around the captain to know what had -happened. He explained that we would have to -wait, before proceeding any farther, until the fog had -lifted a little more. And indeed the mouth of the -Bosphorus was still completely hidden behind a thick -veil of mist. In less than a minute, however, this -had begun to disperse, and we were able to move -forward, howbeit with caution.</p> - -<p>We were now approaching the hill of the Old -Seraglio, and here the general excitement and curiosity -became intense.</p> - -<p>“Turn your back,” said the captain, “and don’t -look until we are directly opposite.”</p> - -<p>I obediently did as I was told, and tried to fix my -attention upon a camp-stool, which seemed to dance -before my eyes.</p> - -<p>“Now!” cried the captain, after a few moments, -and I spun around. The boat had again stopped, -this time opposite and very close to the Seraglio.</p> - -<p>It is a large hill, clothed from top to bottom with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23">23</a></span> -cypress, terebinth, fir, and huge plane trees, whose -branches, reaching out across the city-walls, throw -their shadow on the water below; and from the -midst of this mass of verdure, separately and in -groups, as though dropped at haphazard, rise in a -confused, disorderly mass, the roofs of kiosks and -pavilions crowned with gilded domes and galleries, -charming little buildings of unfamiliar shape, with -grated windows and arabesqued doorways, white, -small, half hidden, suggesting a labyrinth of avenues, -courtyards, and recesses—an entire city enclosed in -a wood, shut off from the world, full of mystery and -sadness. The sun was now shining full upon it, but -above there still hovered a nebulous veil of haze. -No one was to be seen, not the faintest sound could -be heard. All the passengers stood perfectly motionless, -their eyes fixed upon that hill invested with -centuries of associations—glory, pleasure, love, intrigue, -bloodshed; the citadel, palace, and tomb of -the great Ottoman monarchy. For a little while no -one moved or spoke. Suddenly the first mate called -out, “Gentlemen, Skutari is in sight!”</p> - -<p>Every one turned toward the Asiatic shore. -Skutari, the Golden City, barely visible to the naked -eye, lay scattered over the summits and sides of her -great hills, the morning mist throwing a delicate veil -over her radiant beauty, smiling and fresh as though -just called into being by the touch of a fairy wand. -Who can give any idea of that sight? The language<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24">24</a></span> -we employ to describe our own cities is altogether inadequate -to depict that extraordinary variety of color -and form, that marvellous mixture of town and country, -at once gay and austere, Oriental and Western, -fantastic, graceful, imposing. Imagine a city composed -of thousands of crimson and yellow villas, thousands -of gardens overflowing with verdure, a hundred -snow-white mosques rising in their midst; above it -a forest of enormous cypresses, indicating the site of -the largest cemetery of the East; on the outer edge -huge white barracks, groups of houses and cypresses, -villages built on the brows of little hills; beyond -them others, again, half hidden in foliage, and over -all, the peaks of minarets and summits of domes, -sparkling points of light, halfway up the side of a -mountain which closes in the horizon as it were with -a curtain. A great metropolis scattered throughout -an enormous garden and overhanging a shore here -broken by steep precipices, there shelving gently -down in green gradations to charming little inlets -filled with shade and bloom; and below, the blue -mirror of the Bosphorus reflecting all this splendor -and beauty.</p> - -<p>As I stood gazing at Skutari my friend touched -me on the elbow to announce the discovery of still -another city, and, sure enough, turning toward the -Sea of Marmora, there, on the same Asiatic shore -and a little beyond Skutari, lay a long string of -houses, mosques, and gardens which we had but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25">25</a></span> -lately passed in front of, but which, up to this moment, -had been entirely hidden by the fog. With -the help of the glass it was now easy to distinguish -cafés, bazârs, European-looking houses, flights of -stairs, the walls of the market-gardens, and boats -scattered along the shore. This was Kadi Keui -(Village of the Judge), erected on the ruins of ancient -Chalcedon, the former rival of Byzantium—that -Chalcedon founded six hundred and eighty-four -years before Christ by the Megarians, to whom -the Delphic Oracle gave the surname of The Blind -for having selected that rather than the opposite site, -where Stambul is now situated.</p> - -<p>“That makes three cities,” said the captain, -checking them off on his fingers as each moment -brought a fresh one into view.</p> - -<p>The ship was still lying stationary between Skutari -and the Seraglio hill, the fog completely concealing -everything on the Bosphorus beyond Skutari, as -well as Galata and Pera, which lay directly before -us. Boats began to pass close by—barges, steam-launches, -sailboats—but no one paid any attention -to them. Every eye was glued to that gray curtain -which hung over the Frankish city. I trembled -with impatience and anticipation. Yet a few moments -and there would be unfolded before my eyes -that marvellous spectacle which none has here been -able to behold unmoved. My hands shook so violently -that it was with difficulty I could hold the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26">26</a></span> -glass to my eyes. The captain, worthy man, -watched my excitement with keen delight, and, -presently clapping his hands together, cried, “There -it is! there it is!”</p> - -<p>And, true enough, there did at last begin to appear -through the mist first little specks of white, -then the vague outlines of a lofty eminence, then -scattered beams of light where some window caught -and reflected the sun’s rays, and finally Galata and -Pera stood revealed before us—a mountain, a myriad -of houses, of all colors, heaped one above another, -a lofty city crowned with minarets, domes, and cypress -trees, and towering over all the monumental -palaces of the foreign ambassadors and the great -tower of Galata; beneath, the vast arsenal of Top-Khâneh -and a forest of shipping; and still, as the -fog lifted, more and more of the city came into view -stretching along the banks of the Bosphorus; and in -bewildering succession there leaped into sight streets -and suburbs extending from the hilltops to the -water’s edge, closely built, interminable, marked -here and there with the sparkling white tips of the -mosques—line upon line of buildings, little bays, -palaces built upon the shore, pavilions, kiosks, -gardens, groves; and, dimly outlined through the -distant haze, other suburbs still, their roofs alone -distinguishable, all gilded by the sun’s rays—a luxuriance -of color, a profusion of verdure, a succession -of vistas, a grandeur, a grace, a glory sufficient to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27">27</a></span> -make any one break forth into transports of incoherent -delight. Every one on board, however, stood -speechless, staring, with mouth and eyes wide open—passengers, -seamen, Turks, Europeans, children. -Not a whisper was heard. No one knew in which -direction to look. On one side lay Skutari and Kadi -Keui; on the other, the Seraglio hill; opposite, Galata, -Pera, and the Bosphorus. To see it all one had -to keep revolving around in a circle like a teetotum, -and revolve we did, devouring with our eyes first -this and then that, gesticulating, laughing, but -speechless with admiration. Heavens above! what -moments in a man’s life!</p> - -<p>But yet the most beautiful and imposing sight of -all was to come. We were still lying stationary off -Seraglio Point, and until this has been rounded you -cannot see the Golden Horn or get the most wonderful -of all the views of Constantinople.</p> - -<p>“Now, gentlemen and ladies, pay attention!” -cried the captain before giving the order to proceed. -“This is the <i>critical moment</i>; in three minutes we -shall be opposite Constantinople.”</p> - -<p>I felt myself grow hot and cold. For a moment -all was still. How my heart beat! How feverishly -I waited for that blessed word, “Forward!”</p> - -<p>“Forward!” shouted the captain. The ship began -to move.</p> - -<p>On we go! Kings, princes, potentates, ye great -ones of the earth! at that moment I felt nothing but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28">28</a></span> -compassion for you. All your wealth and power -seemed but little in comparison with my place on -that boat, and an empire a poor thing to offer in exchange -for one look.</p> - -<p>A minute passes, then another. We are gliding -by Seraglio Point, and see opening before us an -enormous space flooded with light and a huge mass -of many shapes and colors. The point is passed, -and behold! before us lies Constantinople—Constantinople, -boundless, superb, sublime! The glory of -creation and mankind! A triumph of beauty, far -surpassing one’s wildest dreams!</p> - -<p>And now; poor wretch, attempt to describe it. -Profane with your commonplace words that divine -vision. Who indeed can describe Constantinople? -Chateaubriand? Lamartine? Gautier? What things -you have all stammered and stuttered about it! -and yet no one can resist trying. Words, phrases, -comparisons crowd through the brain and drop off -the end of one’s pen. I gaze, talk, write, all at -the same time, hopeless of success, and yet compelled -to the attempt by some overmastering influence.</p> - -<div id="if_i_028" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_028.jpg" width="600" height="410" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">View of Pera and Galata.</div></div> - -<p>Let us see, then. The Golden Horn lies directly -opposite us like a wide river; on each bank there -extends a ridge; upon them stretch two parallel -lines of the city, embracing eight miles of hill and -valley, bay and promontory, a hundred amphitheatres -of buildings and gardens, an enormous space<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29">29</a></span> -dotted over with houses, mosques, bazârs, seraglios, -baths, kiosks, of an infinite variety of color and -form, and from their midst the sparkling points of -thousands of minarets reaching heavenward like great -pillars of ivory; then groves of cypresses descending -in dark ranks from the hilltops to the water’s edge, -fringing the outskirts, outlining the inlets; and -through all a wealth of vegetation, crowning the -heights, pushing up between the roofs, overhanging -the water, flinging itself up in radiant luxuriance -wherever it can obtain a foothold. To the right, -Galata, her foreground a forest of masts and flags; -above Galata, Pera, the imposing shapes of her -European palaces outlined against the sky; in front, -the bridge connecting the two banks, across which -flow continually two opposite, many-hued streams of -life; to the left, Stambul, scattered over her seven -hills, each crowned with a gigantic mosque with its -leaden dome and gilded pinnacle: St. Sophia, white -and rose-tinted; Sultan Ahmed, flanked by six minarets; -Suleiman the Great, crowned by ten domes; the -Validêh Sultan, reflected in the waves; on the fourth -hill the mosque of Muhammad II.; on the fifth, that -of Selim; on the sixth, the seraglio of Tekyr; and, -high above everything else, the white tower of -the Seraskerat, which commands the shores of two -continents from the Dardanelles to the Black Sea. -Beyond the sixth hill of Stambul on the one hand, -and Galata on the other, nothing can be distinguished<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30">30</a></span> -save a few vague outlines of buildings, faint indications -of towns and villages, broken up by bays and -inlets, fleets of little vessels, and groups of trees -hardly visible through the blue haze, and which appear -more like atmospheric illusions than actual -objects.</p> - -<p>How can one possibly take in all the details of -this marvellous scene? For a moment the eye rests -upon a Turkish house or gilded minaret close by, -but, immediately abandoning it, roams off once more -at will into that boundless space of light and color, -or scales the heights of those two opposite shores -with their range upon range of stately buildings, -groves, and gardens, like the terraces of some enchanted -city, while the brain, bewildered, exhausted, -overpowered, can with difficulty follow in its wake.</p> - -<p>An inexpressible majestic serenity is diffused -throughout this wonderful spectacle, an indefinable -sense of loveliness and youth which recalls a thousand -forgotten tales and dreams of boyhood—something -aërial, mysterious, overpowering, transporting -the imagination and senses far beyond the bounds of -the actual.</p> - -<p>The sky, in which are blended together the most -delicate shades of blue and silver, throws everything -into marvellous relief, while the water, of a -sapphire blue and dotted over with little purple -buoys, reflects the minarets in long trembling lines -of white; the cupolas glisten in the sunlight; all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31">31</a></span> -that mass of vegetation sways and palpitates in the -morning air; clouds of pigeons circle about the -mosques; thousands of gayly-painted and gilded -pleasure-boats flash over the surface of the water; -the zephyrs from the Black Sea come laden with the -perfumes of a thousand flower-gardens; and when -at length, intoxicated by the sights and sounds and -smells of this paradise, and forgetful of all else, one -turns away, it is only to behold with fresh sensations -of wonder and amazement the shores of Asia, with -their imposing panorama of beauty; Skutari and the -nebulous heights of the Bithynian Olympus; the Sea -of Marmora dotted over with little islands and white -with sails; and the Bosphorus, covered with shipping, -winding away between two interminable lines -of kiosks, palaces, and villas, to disappear at last -mysteriously amid the most smiling and radiant hillsides -of the Orient. To deny that this is the most -beautiful sight on earth would be churlish indeed, -as ungrateful toward God as it would be unjust to -his creation; and it is certain that anything more -beautiful would surpass mankind’s powers of enjoyment.</p> - -<p>On recovering somewhat from my own first overwhelming -sensations I turned to see how the other -passengers had been impressed. Every countenance -was transfixed. The eyes of the two Athenian ladies -were suspiciously moist; the Russian mother -had, in that supreme moment, clasped her little Olga<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32">32</a></span> -to her breast; even the voice of the icy English -priest was now heard for the first time, murmuring -to himself, “Wonderful! wonderful!”</p> - -<p>The vessel having in the mean time dropped -anchor not far below the bridge, we were quickly -surrounded by small boats from the shore, which a -moment later discharged a rabble of Greek, Armenian, -and Hebrew porters upon our decks, and these, -while anathematizing the aliens from the other world, -at the same time took possession of our property -and our persons. After making some feeble show -of resistance, I shook hands with the captain, gave -a kiss to little Olga, and, bidding our fellow-passengers -farewell, went over the side with my friend, -where a four-oared barge rapidly transported us to -the custom-house. Thence, after threading a labyrinth -of tortuous streets, we finally reached our quarters -in the Hotel de Byzance on the summit of the -hill of Pera.</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33">33</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="h_33">FIVE HOURS LATER.</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35">35</a></span> -The visions of the morning have disappeared, and -Constantinople, that dream of light and beauty, -turns out to be a huge city, cut up into a succession -of hills and valleys, a labyrinth of human anthills, -cemeteries, ruins, and desert-places—a mixture without -parallel of civilization and barbarism, reflecting -something of every city in the world, gathering -within its borders every aspect of human life. That -comparatively small part enclosed within the walls -forms, as it were, the skeleton of a mighty city; as -for the rest, it is a vast aggregation of barracks, an -enormous Asiatic encampment, in which swarms a -population of every race and religion under the sun. -It is a great city in a state of transformation, composed -of ancient towns falling into decay, of new -ones built but yesterday, and of still others in process -of erection. Everything is topsy-turvy; on -all sides are seen the traces of some gigantic undertaking—mountains -tunnelled through, hills levelled, -suburbs razed to the ground, great thoroughfares laid -out, heaps of stone, and the traces of disastrous -fires, portions of the earth’s surface for ever undergoing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36">36</a></span> -some alteration at the hand of man. The -disorder and confusion and the never-ending succession -of strange and unexpected sights make one -dizzy.</p> - -<p>Walk down a stately street, and you find it ends -in a precipice; come out of a theatre, and you are -surrounded by tombs; climb to the summit of a hill, -beneath your feet you discover a forest, while a new -city confronts you from some neighboring hilltop; -the street you have this moment left suddenly winds -away from you through a deep valley half hidden by -trees; walk around a house, you discover a bay; -descend a lane, farewell to the city: you find yourself -in a lonely defile, with nothing to be seen but -the sky above you; towns appear and disappear continually. -They start into view over your head, beneath -your feet, over your shoulder, far off, near by, -in sun and shadow, on the tops of mountains and on the -shore below. Take a step forward, an immense panorama -is spread out before you; backward, and you -see nothing at all; lift your head, and the points of -a thousand minarets flash before your eyes; turn it, -and not one is in sight. The network of streets -winds in and out among the hills, overtopping terraces, -grazing the edges of precipices, passing beneath -aqueducts, to break up suddenly in footpaths -leading down some grassy incline to the water’s edge, -or else, skirting piles of ruins, meanders away among -rocks and sand to the open country. Here and there<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37">37</a></span> -the huge metropolis stops, as it were, to take breath -in the solitude of the country, then recommences, -more crowded, gay, noisy, bewildering, than before; -here it spreads out flat and monotonous, there scales -the hillside, disappears over the summit, disperses; -then once more gathers itself together. In one -section it ferments with life, noise, movement; in -another there is the stillness of death; one quarter is -all red, another white, a third shines with gilding, a -fourth looks like a mountain of flowers: stately city, -village, country, garden, harbor, wilderness, market, -cemetery, in endless succession, rear themselves, one -above another, in such a manner that certain heights -command in a single view all the aspects of life -which are usually found embraced in an entire province. -In every direction a series of strange and -unfamiliar shapes is outlined against the sea and -sky, so close together and so indented and broken up -by the extraordinary variety of architectural forms -that the eye becomes confused and the various objects -seem to melt one into another.</p> - -<p>In among the Turkish dwelling-houses European -palaces rise suddenly up, spires overtop the minarets, -and cupolas crown the garden-terraces, with -battlemented walls behind them; roofs of Chinese -kiosks appear above the façade of a theatre; barred -and grated harems face rows of glazed windows; -side by side with open balconies and terraces are -found Moorish buildings with recessed windows and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38">38</a></span> -small forbidding doorways. Shrines to the Madonna -are set up beneath Arabian archways; tombs stand -in the courtyards; towers arise amid the hovels; -mosques, synagogues, Greek, Catholic, Armenian -churches, crowd one upon the other, as though each -were striving for the mastery, and, from every spot -unoccupied by buildings, cypress and pine, fig and -plane trees stretch forth their branches and tower -above the surrounding roofs.</p> - -<p>An indescribable architecture of expedients, following -the infinite caprices of the soil, portions of -buildings cut up into sections, triangular, upright, -prone, surrounded and connected by bridges, props, -and defiles, heaped up in confused masses, like huge -fragments detached from a mountain-side.</p> - -<p>At every hundred steps the scene changes. Now -you are in a suburb of Marseilles; turn, and it becomes -an Asiatic village; another turn, and it is a -Greek settlement; still another, a suburb of Trebizond. -The language and dress, the faces you meet, -the look of the houses in the various quarters, all -suggest a different country from the one you have -just left; they are bits of France, slices of Italy, -samples of England, scraps of Russia. One sees depicted -in vivid colors on the great surface of the -city that battle which is here being waged between -the various groups of Christians on the one hand -fighting to repossess themselves of, and Islamism on -the other defending with all its remaining strength,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39">39</a></span> -the sacred soil of Constantinople. Stambul, once -entirely Turkish, is assailed on all sides by settlements -of Christians, before whose advance it is -slowly giving way all along the banks of the Golden -Horn and the shores of the Sea of Marmora; in other -directions the conquest is proceeding much more -rapidly: churches, hospitals, palaces, public gardens, -schools, and factories are rending asunder the Mussulman’s -quarters, encroaching upon his cemeteries, -and advancing from one height to another, until -already, on the dismayed soil, there are sketched -the vague outlines of another European city, as -large as the one now covering the banks of the -Golden Horn, and destined one day to embrace the -European shore of the Bosphorus.</p> - -<div id="if_i_038" class="figcenter" style="width: 482px;"> - <img src="images/i_038.jpg" width="482" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Ancient Fountain.</div></div> - -<p>But from such general observations as these the -attention is distracted at every step by some fresh -object of interest: on one street it is the monastery -of the dervishes, in another a great Moorish building, -a Turkish café, a bazâr, a fountain, an aqueduct. -In the course of a quarter of an hour, too, one is -obliged to alter his gait at least a dozen times. You -must descend, mount, climb down some steep incline -or up by stairs cut out of the rock, wade -through the mud and surmount a thousand different -obstacles, threading your way now through crowds -of people, then in and out among shrubbery; here -stooping to avoid lines of clothes hung out to dry; -at one moment obliged to hold your breath, at the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40">40</a></span> -next inhaling a hundred delicious odors. From a -terrace flooded with light and commanding a magnificent -view of the Bosphorus, Asia, and the blue -arch of heaven one step will bring you to a network -of narrow alley-ways, leading in and out among -wretched, half-ruined houses and choked up with -heaps of stone and rubbish; from some delicious -retreat filled with verdure and bloom you emerge -on a dry, dusty waste littered with débris; from a -thoroughfare glowing with life, movement, and color -you step into some sepulchral recess, where it seems -as though the silence had never been broken by the -sound of a human voice; from the glorious Orient -of one’s dreams to quite another Orient, forbidding, -oppressive, falling into decay, and suggestive of all -that is mournful and depressing. After walking -about for a few hours amid this medley of strange -sights, one’s brain becomes completely confused. -Were any one to suddenly put the question to you, -“What sort of a place is Constantinople?” you -would only stare at him vacantly, quite incapable -of giving any intelligible reply. Constantinople is a -Babylon, a world, a chaos.—Is it beautiful?—Marvellously.—Ugly?—Horribly -so.—Do you like it?—It -fascinates me.—Shall you remain?—How on -earth can I tell? Can any one tell how long he is -likely to stay on another planet?</p> - -<p>You return at last to your lodgings, enthusiastic, -disappointed, enchanted, disgusted, stunned, stupefied,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41">41</a></span> -your head whirling around like that of a person -in the first stages of brain fever. This condition -gradually gives way to one of complete prostration, -utter exhaustion of mind and body; you have lived -years in the course of a few hours, and feel yourself -aged.</p> - -<p>And the population of this huge city?</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43">43</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="h_43">THE BRIDGE.</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45">45</a></span> -The best place from which to see the population -of Constantinople is the floating bridge, about a quarter -of a mile long, which connects the extreme point -of Galata with the opposite shore of the Golden -Horn, just below the mosque of the Validêh Sultan. -Both banks are European territory, but, notwithstanding -this fact, the bridge may be said to connect -Europe and Asia, since nothing in Stambul but the -ground itself is European, and even those quarters -occupied by Christians have taken on an Asiatic character. -The Golden Horn, though in appearance a -river, in reality separates two different worlds, like an -ocean. European news reaches Galata and Pera, and -at once it is in every one’s mouth, and circulates rapidly, -fresh, minute, and accurate, while in Stambul -it is heard only like some vague, far-away echo; the -fame of worldwide reputations and the most startling -events roll back from before that little strip of water -as from some insuperable barrier, and across that -bridge, daily traversed by a hundred thousand feet, -an idea does not pass once in ten years.</p> - -<div id="if_i_044" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_044.jpg" width="600" height="409" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Bridge of Galata.</div></div> - -<p>Standing there, you can see all Constantinople pass<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46">46</a></span> -by in the course of an hour. Two human currents -flow incessantly back and forth from dawn to sunset, -affording a spectacle which the market-places of India, -the Pekin fetes, or the fairs of Nijnii-Novgorod -can certainly give but a faint conception of. In order -to get anything like a clear idea you must fix your -attention on some particular point and look nowhere -else. The instant you allow your eyes to wander -everything becomes confused and you lose your -head. The crowd surges by in great waves of color, -each group of persons representing a different -nationality. Try to imagine the most extravagant -contrasts of costume, every variety of type and social -class, and your wildest dreams will fall short of -the reality; in the course of ten minutes and in the -space of a few feet you will have seen a mixture of -race and dress you never conceived of before.</p> - -<p>Behind a crowd of Turkish porters, who go by on -a run, bending beneath the weight of enormous -burdens, there comes a sedan chair inlaid with -mother-of-pearl and ivory, out of which peeps the -head of an Armenian lady; on either side of it may -be seen a Bedouin wrapped in his white cape, and -an old Turk wearing a white muslin turban and blue -caftan; a young Greek trots by, followed by his -dragoman dressed in embroidered zouaves; next -comes a dervish in his conical hat and camel’s-hair -mantle, who jumps aside to make room for the -carriage of an European ambassador preceded by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47">47</a></span> -liveried outriders. One can hardly be said to -actually see all of these, only to catch glimpses of -them as they flash by. Before you have time to -turn around you find yourself surrounded by a -Persian regiment in their towering caps of black -astrakhan; close behind them comes a Hebrew, clad -in a long yellow garment open up the sides; then a -dishevelled gypsy, her baby slung in a sack on her -back; next a Catholic priest, with his staff and -breviary; while advancing among a mixed crowd -of Greeks, Turks, and Armenians may be seen a -gigantic eunuch on horseback, shouting <i>Vardah!</i> -(Make way!), and, closely following him, a Turkish -carriage decorated with flowers and birds and filled -with the ladies of a harem, dressed in green and -violet and enveloped in great white veils; behind -them comes a Sister of Charity from one of the Pera -hospitals, and after her an African slave carrying a -monkey, and a story-teller in the garb of a necromancer. -One point which strikes the stranger as -being singular, although it is in reality the most natural -thing in the world, is that all this queer multitude -of people pass one another without so much as a -glance, just as though it were some London crowd; -no one stops; every one hurries on intent upon his -own affairs, and out of a hundred faces that pass by -not one will wear a smile. The Albanian in his -long white garment, with pistols thrust in his belt, -brushes against the Tartar clad in sheepskin; the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48">48</a></span> -Turk guides his richly-caparisoned ass between two -files of camels; close behind the aide-de-camp of one -of the imperial princes, mounted on an Arabian -charger, a cart rumbles along piled up with the -odd-looking effects of some Turkish household. A -Mussulman woman on foot, a veiled female slave, a -Greek with her long flowing hair surmounted by a -little red cap, a Maltese hidden in her black <i>faldetta</i>, -a Jewess in the ancient costume of her nation, a -negress wrapped in a many-tinted Cairo shawl, an -Armenian from Trebizond, all veiled in black—a -funereal apparition; these and many more follow -each other in line as though it were a procession -gotten up to display the dress of the various nations -of the world. It is an ever-changing mosaic, a -kaleidoscopic view of race, costume, and religion, -which forms and dissolves with a rapidity the eye -and brain can with difficulty follow. It is quite -interesting to fix your gaze on the footway of the -bridge and look for a while at nothing but the feet: -every style of footwear that the world has known, -from that which obtained in Eden up to the very -latest phase of Parisian fashion, goes by—yellow -<i>babbuccie</i>, the red slipper of the Armenian, turquoise-blue -of the Greek, and black of the Israelite—sandals, -high boots from Turkistan, Albanian -leggings, slashed shoes, <i>gambass</i> of the Asia Minor -horsemen of all colors, gold-embroidered slippers, -Spanish <i>alpargatas</i>, feet shod in leather, satin, rags,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49">49</a></span> -wood, crowded so close together that in looking at one -you are aware of a hundred. And while thus engaged -you must be on your guard to avoid being -knocked down. Now it is a water-carrier with his -huge water-skin on his back, or a Russian lady going -by on horseback; now a troop of imperial soldiers -wearing the uniform of zouaves, who advance as -though charging the enemy; now a procession of -Armenian porters, who pass two by two, carrying -huge bales of goods suspended from long poles -across their shoulders; then a crowd of Turks push -their way to right and left through the throng in -order to embark on some of the many little steamboats -which, starting from the bridge, ply up and -down the Bosphorus and Golden Horn. It is one -continuous tramp and roar, a murmur of hoarse -gutturals and incomprehensible interjections, among -which the occasional French or Italian words which -reach the ear seem like rays of light seen through -a thick darkness. The figures which strike the -fancy most forcibly of all are, perhaps, those of the -Circassians. These wild, bearded men, who pass -with measured tread in groups of four or five, wearing -large fur caps like those of the ancient -Napoleon guard, and long black caftans, with -daggers thrust in the belt and a silver cartridge-box -suspended on the breast, look like veritable -types of brigands, or as though their sole business -in Constantinople might be the sale of a sister or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50">50</a></span> -daughter dragged thither by hands already imbued -with Russian blood. Then there is the Syrian, -clad in a long Byzantine dolman, with a gold-striped -handkerchief wrapped about his head; the Bulgarian, -in sombre-colored tunic and fur-edged cap; -the Georgian, with his casque of dressed leather -and tunic gathered into a metal belt; the Greek -from the Archipelago, covered with lace, silken -tassels, and shining buttons. From time to time it -seems as though the crowd were receding somewhat, -but it is only to surge forward once more in great, -overpowering waves of color crested with white -turbans like foam, in whose midst may occasionally -be seen a high hat or umbrella or the towering headgear -of some European lady tossed hither and -thither by that Mussulman torrent.</p> - -<p>It is stupefying merely to note the diversity of -religions represented. Here gleams the shining -pate of a Capuchin father; there towers aloft the -<i>ulema’s</i> Janissary turban; farther on the black veil -of the Armenian priest floats in the breeze; <i>imams</i> -pass in their white tunics; nuns of the Stigmata; -chaplains of the Turkish army clad in green and -carrying sabres; Dominican brothers; pilgrims returned -from Mecca wearing talismans about their -necks; Jesuits; dervishes; and these last, queerly -enough, carry umbrellas to protect them from the -sun, while in the mosques they may be seen tearing -their flesh in self-inflicted torture for their sins.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51">51</a></span> -To one who watches attentively a thousand amusing -and interesting little incidents detach themselves -from the general confusion. Now it is a eunuch, -who glares out of the corner of his eye at a young -Christian dandy caught peering too curiously into -the carriage of his mistress; a French <i>cocotte</i>, -dressed in the latest fashion, who follows the gloved -and bejewelled son of a pasha; a sergeant of cavalry -in full-dress uniform, who, stopping short in the -middle of the bridge, and, seizing his nose between -two fingers, emits a trumpet blast loud enough to -make one jump; or a quack, who, in return for -some poor wretch’s piece of money, makes a cabalistic -sign on his forehead supposed to restore his -eyesight; here a large family-party, newly arrived, -have gotten separated in the crowd: the mother -rushes hither and thither, searching for her children, -who, on their part, are weeping at the tops of their -voices, while the men of the party try to mend matters -by laying about them in all directions; a lady -from Stambul passes by, and under pretence of adjusting -her veil gets a good look at the train of a -lady from Pera. Horses, camels, sedan chairs, carriages, -ox-carts, casks on wheels, bleeding donkeys, -skinny dogs, pass in a long file, dividing the crowd -in two. Sometimes a big fat pasha <i>of the three horse-tails</i> -goes by in a magnificent carriage, followed on -foot by a negro, his guard, and his pipe-bearer. The -Turks all salute him, touching the forehead and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52">52</a></span> -breast, while a throng of Mussulman beggars, horrible, -meagre-looking wretches, with muffled faces -and bare chests, hurl themselves at the carriage-windows, -begging vociferously for alms. Eunuchs out -of employment pass in groups of two and three or a -half dozen at a time, with cigarettes in their mouths, -easily distinguished by their corpulency, their long -arms, and great black cloaks. Pretty little Turkish -girls, dressed like boys in green trousers and red -or yellow waistcoats, run and jump about with catlike -agility, pushing their way through the crowd -with soft little crimson-tinted hands; shoe-cleaners -with their gilded boxes; wandering barbers, their -stool and basin ready at hand; venders of water and -Turkish sweetmeats can be seen in every direction, -threading their way through the press and shouting -out their wares and avocations in Greek and Turkish. -At every step you meet a military uniform, -officers in fiery and scarlet trousers, their breasts -glittering with decorations; grooms of the Seraglio -gotten up like generals in command of an army; -policemen carrying whole arsenals at their belts; -<i>zeibeks</i>, or free soldiers, wearing those enormous -breeches with pockets behind which give them outlines -like the Hottentot Venus; imperial guards with -nodding white plumes on their helmets, and breasts -covered with gold lace; city guards, who march about -carrying handcuffs—Constantinople city guards! One -might as well speak of people who had been charged<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53">53</a></span> -with the duty of keeping down the Atlantic Ocean. One -curious contrast is that which is found between the rich -clothing on the one hand and the miserable rags on the -other, between persons so laden down with the quantity -and magnificence of their apparel as to look like -walking bazârs and others who scarcely may be said -to have any apparel at all. The nakedness alone is -a noteworthy sight. Every tint of human skin can -be found, from the milk-white Albanian to the jet-black -slave from Central Africa or blue-black native -of Darfur; breasts which look as though they would -resound at a blow like a bronze vase or break in -pieces like an earthenware pot; hard, oily, wooden -surfaces, or shaggy like the hide of a wild boar; -brawny arms tattooed with outlines of leaves and -flowers or rude representations of ships under full -sail, and hearts transfixed by arrows. All such particulars, -however, as these cannot possibly be noted -in the course of a single visit to the bridge. While -you are trying to make out the designs tattooed on -an arm, your guide is calling your attention to a -Serb, a Montenegrin, a Wallach, an Ukrainian Cossack, -a Cossack of the Don, an Egyptian, a native -of Tunis, a prince of Imerezia. There is hardly time -even to make a note of the different nationalities. -It is as though Constantinople still maintained her -former position as queen of three continents and -capital of twenty tributary kingdoms. Yet even -this would hardly account for the extraordinary features<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54">54</a></span> -of that spectacle, and one amuses himself by -fancying that some mighty deluge has swept over -the neighboring continent, causing a sudden influx -of immigration. An expert eye can still distinguish -in that mighty human torrent the distinctive features -and costumes of Caramania and Anatolia, of -Cypress and of Candia, of Damascus and Jerusalem—Druses, -Kurds, Maronites, Telemans, Pumacs, -and Kroats, and all the innumerable variety of the -innumerable confederations of anarchies extending -from the Nile to the Danube and from the Euphrates -to the Adriatic. Those in search of the beautiful -and those with a craving for the horrible will find, -equally, their wildest hopes surpassed. Raphael -would have been in ecstasies, Rembrandt beside -himself with delight. The purest examples of Grecian -beauty and that of the Caucasian races appear -side by side with snub noses and receding foreheads. -Women pass with the look and bearing of queens, -others who might pose as furies. There are painted -faces and faces disfigured by disease and wounds, -colossal feet and the tiny feet of the Circassian no -longer than your hand; gigantic porters, great fat -Turks, and negroes like dried-up skeletons, ghosts -of human beings who fill you with horror and pity; -every aspect of human life, extremes of asceticism -and voluptuousness, utter weariness, radiant luxury, -and wasted misery; and, still more remarkable than -the variety of human beings, is that of the garments<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55">55</a></span> -they wear. Any one with an eye for color would -find himself in clover. No two persons are dressed -alike. Some heads are enveloped in shawls, others -crowned with rags, others decked out like savages—shirts -and undervests striped or particolored like a -harlequin’s dress; belts bristling with weapons, some -of them reaching from the waist to the arm-pits; -Mameluke trousers, knee-breeches, tunics, togas, -long cloaks which sweep the ground, capes trimmed -with ermine, waistcoats encrusted with gold, short -sleeves and balloon-shaped ones, monastic garbs and -theatre costumes; men dressed like women, women -who seem to be men, and peasants with the air of -princes; a ragged magnificence, an exuberance of -color, a profusion of ornament, braid, fringe, frippery -of all sorts; a childish and theatrical display -of decoration, which makes one think of a ball given -by the inmates of an insane asylum, who have -decked themselves out with the contents of all the -peddlers’ packs in the world.</p> - -<p>Above the babel of sounds made by all this multitude -one hears the piercing cries of the Greek newsboys -selling newspapers in all languages under -heaven, the stentorian tones of the porters, loud -laughter of the Turkish women; the infantile -voices of the eunuchs; the shrill falsetto of a blind -beggar reciting verses from the Koran; the hollow-resounding -noise of the bridge itself as it sways -under this multitude of feet; the bells and whistles<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56">56</a></span> -from a hundred steamboats, whose smoke, coming -in great puffs, from time to time envelops the entire -throng of passers-by. This vast concourse of people -embarks in the boats which leave every moment for -Skutari, the villages along the Bosphorus, and the -suburbs on the Golden Horn; spreads out over -the bazârs and mosques of Stambul, the suburbs of -Fanar and Balat, to the most distant points on the -Sea of Marmora; flows like an advancing tide in -two great currents over the Frankish shore, to the -right in the direction of the sultan’s palaces, to the -left toward the ancient quarters of Pera, and, receding -once more across the bridge, is fed by innumerable -little streams flowing down the steep, narrow -lanes and byways which cover the hillsides of both -banks, connecting ten cities and a hundred villages, -and binding together Asia and Europe in an intricate -network of commerce, intrigue, and mystery, at the -mere thought of which one’s mind becomes hopelessly -confused.</p> - -<p>One would naturally expect all this to make an -amusing and enlivening spectacle, but it is quite -otherwise: after the first sensations of excitement -and wonder have died down the brilliant coloring -begins to pale; it no longer wears the aspect of a -gay Carnival procession, but humanity itself seems -to be passing in review—humanity with all its miseries -and follies, its infinite discord of clashing beliefs -and irreconcilable customs, a pilgrimage of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57">57</a></span> -decayed races and humbled nations; a boundless -tide of human misery; wrongs to be set right, stains -to be washed out, chains to be broken; an accumulation -of tremendous problems which blood alone, -and that in torrents, is capable of solving—a sight -at once overpowering and depressing. One’s interest, -too, is rather blunted than aroused by the -enormous number and variety of strange sights and -objects. What sudden mysterious changes the mind -is subject to! Here was I, not a quarter of an hour -after reaching the bridge, leaning listlessly against -the side, scribbling on the wooden beam with a pencil, -and acknowledging, between my yawns, that -Madame de Staël was pretty near the truth when -she pronounced travelling to be the most melancholy -of human pleasures.</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59">59</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="h_59">STAMBUL.</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61">61</a></span> -In order to restore one’s equilibrium after the -bewildering scenes of the bridge it is only necessary -to follow one of the many narrow streets which wind -up the hillsides of Stambul. Here there reigns a -profound peace, and you may contemplate at your -leisure those mysterious and evasive aspects of -Oriental life of which only flying glimpses can be -obtained on the other bank amid the noise and confusion -of European manners and customs. Here -everything is Eastern in its strictest sense. After -walking for fifteen minutes the last sounds have -died away, the crowds entirely disappeared; you are -surrounded on every side by little wooden, brightly-painted -houses, whose second stories extend out -over the ground floor, and the third again over -those; in front of the windows are balconies enclosed -with glass and close wooden gratings, which -look like little houses thrown out from the main -dwelling, and lend to the city an indescribable air -of secresy and melancholy. In some places the -streets are so narrow that the overhanging parts of -opposite houses nearly touch, and you walk for long<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62">62</a></span> -distances in the shadow of these human bird-cages -and literally beneath the feet of the Turkish women, -who pass the greater part of the day in them, seeing -nothing but a narrow strip of sky. All the doors -are tightly shut, and the windows on the ground -floor protected by gratings. Everything breathes -of jealousy and suspicion; one seems to be traversing -a city of convents. Sometimes the stillness is -suddenly broken by a ripple of laughter close at -hand, and, looking quickly up, you may discover at -some small opening or loophole the flash of a bright -eye or a shining lock of hair, which, however, -instantly disappears; or, again, you surprise a conversation -being carried on in quick, subdued tones -across the street, which breaks off suddenly at the -sound of your footsteps, and you continue your way -wondering what thread of mystery or intrigue you -may have broken in your passage. Seeing no one -yourself, you have the consciousness of a thousand -eyes upon you; apparently quite alone, you yet feel -yourself to be surrounded by restless, palpitating -life. Wishing, possibly, to pass unobserved, you -tread lightly, walk rapidly, but all the same you are -watched on all sides. So profound is the silence -that the mere opening and shutting of a door or -window startles you as though it were some tremendous -noise. One might suppose that the aspect of -these streets would become monotonous and tiresome, -but it is not so. A mass of foliage out of which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63">63</a></span> -issues the white point of a minaret, a Turk dressed -in red coming toward you, a black servant standing -immovable before a doorway, a strip of Persian -carpet hanging from a window, suffice to form a -picture so full of life and harmony that one could -stand gazing at it by the hour. Of the few persons -who do pass by, none appear to notice you; only -occasionally you hear a voice at your shoulder call -out “<i>Giaour!</i>” (infidel), and turn just in time to see -a boy’s head disappearing behind a window-shutter. -Again, hearing a door being opened from within, -you pause expectantly, fully prepared to see the -favorite beauty of some harem come forth in full -costume, instead of which an European lady in -bonnet and train appears and, with a murmured -<i>Adieu</i> or <i>Au revoir</i>, walks rapidly away, leaving -you open-mouthed with astonishment.</p> - -<p>In another street, entirely Turkish and silent, you -are suddenly startled by the sound of a horn and -the stamping of horses’ feet; turning to see what -it means, you find it difficult to believe your -eyes when a large car rolls gayly into sight over -some tracks which up to that moment you had not -noticed, filled with Turks and Europeans, with its -officials in uniform and its printed tariff of fares, -for all the world like a <i>tramway</i> in Vienna or Paris. -The effect of such an apparition, seen in one of those -streets, is not to be described: it is like a burlesque -or some huge joke, and you laugh aloud as you<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64">64</a></span> -watch it disappear, as though you had never seen -anything of the kind before. With the omnibus the -life and movement of Europe seem to vanish, and -you find yourself back in Asia, like a change of -scene at the theatre. Issuing from almost any of -these silent, deserted streets, you come out upon -small open spaces shaded by one huge plane tree: -on one hand there is a fountain out of which camels -are drinking; on the other, a café in front of which -a number of Turks recline on mats, smoking and -gazing into vacancy; beside the door stands a large -fig tree, up whose trunk a vine clambers, extending -out over the branches and falling in waving garlands -to the ground, and between whose leaves enchanting -glimpses are caught of the blue waters of the Sea -of Marmora dotted all over with white sails. The -flood of light and the death-like stillness give these -places a certain character, half solemn, half melancholy, -which makes an indelible impression upon the -mind: one is carried on and on, drawn, as it were, -out of himself by a subtle sense of mystery which -steeps the senses little by little, until he loses all -idea of time and space and seems to float on a vague -cloud of dreams.</p> - -<div id="if_i_064" class="figcenter" style="width: 495px;"> - <img src="images/i_064.jpg" width="495" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Fountain in Court of the Mosque of Ahmed.</div></div> - -<p>From time to time you come upon vast barren -tracts devastated by some recent fire; hillsides with -a few houses scattered here and there, and grassy -spaces between them, intersected with goat-paths; -tops of hills from which can be seen hundreds of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65">65</a></span> -houses and gardens, streets and lanes, but not a living -creature, a wreath of smoke, an open door, or -the faintest indication of human life, until one almost -begins to think himself alone in the midst of this -immense city, and, thinking so, to become a trifle -uncomfortable. But just follow one of those steep -little streets down to the bottom, and in an instant -the whole scene changes. You are now on one of -the great thoroughfares of Stambul, flanked by -splendid buildings, whose beauty almost defies your -powers of admiration. On every side rise mosques, -kiosks, minarets, arcades, fountains of marble and -lapis lazuli, mausoleums of sultans glowing with arabesques -and inscriptions in gold, their walls covered -with mosaics, their roofs of inlaid cedar-wood, and -everywhere that exuberance of vegetation which, -pushing its way through gilded railings and scaling -garden-walls, fills the air with the perfume of its -blossoms. Here are met the equipages of pashas, -aides-de-camp in full uniform, officials, employés, -eunuchs belonging to great houses, and files of servants -and parasites coming and going in a continual succession -between the residences of the ministers: one -recognizes the fact that he is in the metropolis of a -great empire, and admires it in all its magnificence -of display. The brilliant atmosphere and graceful -architecture, the murmuring of the fountains, the -bright sunshine and delicious coolness of the shade, -all affect the senses like subdued music, and a hundred<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66">66</a></span> -smiling images crowd through the mind. Following -these thoroughfares, you emerge upon the -large open squares, from which arise the mosques -of the various sultans, before whose stately magnificence -you pause in wondering awe. Each one of -these mighty buildings forms the centre, as it were, -of a small separate city, with its colleges, hospitals, -stores, libraries, schools, and baths, whose existence -is at first hardly suspected, so overshadowed are they -by the huge dome which they encircle. The architecture, -so simple in appearance when seen from a -distance, now presents a mass of detail attracting the -eye in all directions at once. There are little cupolas -overlaid with lead, oddly-shaped roofs rising -one above another, aërial galleries, enormous porticoes, -windows broken by little columns, festooned -archways, spiral minarets, lines of terraces with -open-work carving, and capitals supported on stylobates, -doorways and fountains covered with ornament, -walls picked out in gold and every color of the -rainbow—a mass of carving and fretwork, light, -graceful, exquisite, across which the shadows chase -each other from great oak and cypress trees and -willows, while clouds of birds, issuing from the -overspreading branches, fly in slow circles around -the interiors of the domes, filling every corner of -the immense edifice with harmony. And now, for -the first time, you begin to be conscious of a feeling -stronger and more underlying than a mere sense of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67">67</a></span> -the beautiful. These huge structures seem like the -marble witnesses of an order of thought and belief -altogether different from that in which you have been -born and reared—the imposing framework of a hostile -race and faith, testifying in a mute but expressive -language of lofty heights and glorious lines to -the might of a God who is not your God, and a -people before whom your fathers have trembled, -filling you with admiration not unmixed with awe, -which, for a time at least, checks your curiosity and -holds you at a distance.</p> - -<p>Within the shady courtyards Turks may be seen -at the fountains busied about their ablutions, peasants -crouched at the foot of the great pillars, veiled women -who pass with deliberate steps beneath the lofty -arcades: over all there broods a profound quiet, a -tinge of sadness and voluptuousness, whose source -you try in vain to discover, exercising your mind -as upon some enigma. Galata, Pera—how far away -they seem! It is as though you were in another -world alone, in a different age. This is the Stambul -of Suleiman the Magnificent or Bayezid II., and you -feel dazed and confused when, on turning away from -the square and losing sight of the stupendous monument -of the power of the Osmans, you find yourself -once more confronted by the Constantinople of to-day, -of wood, poverty, and decay, filled with dirt, -wretchedness, and misery.</p> - -<p>As you go on and on the houses gradually lose<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68">68</a></span> -their bright coloring, the vine-trellises disappear, -moss creeps over the basins of the fountains, the -mosques become small and mean, with wooden minarets -and cracked, discolored walls, around which -brambles and nettles have sprung up; ruined mausoleums, -broken stairways, tortuous lanes choked -with rubbish and reeking with damp; deserted quarters -full of gloom, whose silence is unbroken save -for the flapping of birds’ wings or the guttural cry -of a muezzin calling out the word of God from some -distant unseen minaret. On the face of no city in -the world is written in such plain characters the -nature of her people’s beliefs. Everything grand -or beautiful comes from God, or the sultan—His -representative upon earth. All the rest, being -merely temporary, is not worthy of consideration -and bears the stamp of an utter indifference to -mundane things. This pastoral tribe has become -a nation, but the instinctive love of nature, of a life -of contemplation and idleness, is as strong among -its people as ever, and has lent to their metropolis -the look of an encampment. Stambul is not a city; -she neither works nor thinks, nor does she create; -civilization knocks at her doors, lays siege to her -streets, and she dozes and dreams in the shadow -of her mighty mosques and pays no heed. It is -more like a city let loose, scattered, disfigured, -representing rather the halt of a wandering race -than the stronghold of an established state; a number<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69">69</a></span> -of cities sketched in outline, an immense spectacular -show, rather than a great metropolis, of -which no just idea can be obtained without traversing -every part.</p> - -<p>Taking, then, for our starting-point the first hill, -we are at that point of the triangle bathed by the -Sea of Marmora. This is, so to speak, the crown of -Stambul, an imposing district crowded with associations -and filled with magnificent buildings. Here is -the ancient Seraglio, occupying the site where arose -first, Byzantium, with her acropolis and temple of -Jupiter, and then the palace of the empress Placidia -and the baths of Arcadius; here stand the mosques -of St. Sophia and the Sultan Ahmed; and here is the -At-Meidan, covering the space formerly occupied by -the Hippodrome, where once, in the midst of an -Olympus of marble and bronze and urged on by the -frantic cries of a multitude clad in silk and purple, -gilded chariots were driven furiously seven times -around the course beneath the impassive gaze of the -pearl-bedecked emperors. Descending the first hill -into a shallow valley, we come upon the western -walls of the Seraglio, marking the confines of -ancient Byzantium,<a id="FNanchor_A" href="#Footnote_A" class="fnanchor">A</a> and directly before us rises the -Sublime Porte, containing the offices of the prime -minister, foreign minister, and minister of the interior—silent, -gloomy regions where seem gathered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70">70</a></span> -all the sombreness and melancholy of the fate of the -empire.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_A" href="#FNanchor_A" class="fnanchor">A</a> Other authorities place the walls of ancient Byzantium considerably -farther west than this point.—<span class="smcap">Trans.</span></p></div> - -<p>From here we ascend the second hill, where rise -the Nûri Osmaniyeh mosque (Light of Osman) and -the Burnt Column of Constantine, formerly surmounted -by a bronze statue of Apollo, whose head -was a likeness of the great emperor himself. This -column marked the centre of the forum, and was -surrounded by marble porticoes, triumphal arches, -and statues. On the farther side of this hill opens -the Valley of Bazârs, extending from the Bayezid -mosque all the way to that of the Validêh Sultan, -and including a huge labyrinth of covered streets -filled with noise and confusion and crowded with -people, from which you issue with your ears deafened -and your head in a whirl.</p> - -<p>Upon the summit of the third hill, overlooking -both the Sea of Marmora and the Golden Horn, -stands the gigantic rival of St. Sophia, the mosque -of Suleiman—<i>joy and glory of Stambul</i>, as it is called -by the Turkish poets—and the marvellous tower of -the minister of war, erected on the ruins of the ancient -palace of the Constantines, at one time occupied -by Muhammad the Conqueror, and converted -later on into a seraglio for the old sultanas.</p> - -<div id="if_i_070" class="figcenter" style="width: 516px;"> - <img src="images/i_070.jpg" width="516" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Burnt Column of Constantine.</div></div> - -<p>Between the third and fourth hills the enormous -aqueduct of the emperor Valens stretches like an -aërial bridge composed of two tiers of delicate -arches, around which vines trail and clamber, falling<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71">71</a></span> -in graceful festoons as far as the roofs of the houses -crowded together in the valley beneath.</p> - -<p>Passing under the aqueduct, we now ascend the -fourth hill. Here, on the ruins of the celebrated -church of the Holy Apostles, founded by the empress -Helena and rebuilt by Theodosius, rises the -mosque of Muhammad II., surrounded by schools, -hospitals, and khâns. Alongside the mosque are -the slave-bazâr, the baths of Muhammad, and the -granite column of Marcian surmounted by a marble -capital, on which is a cippus still ornamented with -the imperial eagles. Near by is the Et-Meidan, -where the famous massacre of the Janissaries took -place.</p> - -<p>Traversing another valley, likewise closely built -up, we mount the fifth hill, surmounted by the -mosque of Selim, near the site of the ancient -cistern of St. Peter, now converted into a garden. -Beneath us, along the shores of the Golden Horn, -extends Fanar, the Greek quarter and seat of the -Patriarch, where ancient Byzantium has taken -refuge, the scene of the revolting carnage of 1821.</p> - -<p>Descending into a fifth valley and ascending a -sixth hill, we find ourselves upon the territory once -occupied by the eight cohorts of Constantine’s forty -thousand Goths, beyond the circuit of the earlier -walls, which only embraced the fourth hill: this is -the precise spot assigned to the seventh cohort, -hence the name Hebdomon given to that quarter.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72">72</a></span> -On the sixth hill may be seen still standing the -walls of the palace<a id="FNanchor_B" href="#Footnote_B" class="fnanchor">B</a> of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, -where the emperors were formerly crowned, -now called by the Turks Tekfûr Serai—Palace of -the Princes. At the foot of the hill lies Balat, the -Ghetto of Constantinople, a filthy quarter extending -along the banks of the Horn as far as the city-walls: -and beyond Balat is the ancient suburb of Blachernæ, -where once arose the mighty palace with its gilded -roofs, a favorite resort of the emperors, and famous -for the sacredness of the relics contained in the -church erected by the empress Pulcheria. Now the -whole quarter is filled with decay and ruin and -melancholy. At the Blachernæ begin the turreted -walls which extend from the Golden Horn across to -the Sea of Marmora, enclosing the seventh hill, on -which stood the Forum of Arcadius, and where -may still be seen the pedestal of the column of -Arcadius—the largest and most eastern of the hills -of Stambul, between which and the other six flows -the little river Lycus, which, entering the city near -the Charsiou<a id="FNanchor_C" href="#Footnote_C" class="fnanchor">C</a> Gate, empties itself into the Sea of -Marmora near the ancient gate of Theodosius.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_B" href="#FNanchor_B" class="fnanchor">B</a> Prof. A. Van Millingen places the site of the Hebdomon -Palace on the shore of the Sea of Marmora, outside the walls, near -the village of Makri Keui; other authorities state that there are -unanswerable arguments in favor of this view.—<span class="smcap">Trans.</span></p> - -<p><a id="Footnote_C" href="#FNanchor_C" class="fnanchor">C</a> The Lycus enters the city near the Gate of Pusæus and -empties into the Sea of Marmora at Vlanga-Bostan.—<span class="smcap">Trans.</span></p></div> - -<p>From the walls of the Blachernæ we overlook the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73">73</a></span> -suburb of Ortajilar, inclining gently to the water’s -edge and crowned with its many gardens; beyond -it lies that of Eyûb, the consecrated soil of the -Mussulman, with its charming mosques and vast -cemetery shaded by a forest of cypresses and white -with mausoleums and tombstones; back of Eyûb is -the elevated plain which was formerly used as a -military camp, and where the legions elevated the -newly-made emperors upon their shields;<a id="FNanchor_D" href="#Footnote_D" class="fnanchor">D</a> and beyond -this, again, other villages are seen, their bright -colors set in a framework of green woods and -bathed by the farthermost waters of the Golden -Horn.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_D" href="#FNanchor_D" class="fnanchor">D</a> This ceremony more probably took place near Makri Keui on -the Sea of Marmora.—<span class="smcap">Trans.</span></p></div> - -<p>Such is Stambul, truly a divine vision. But -when it is remembered that this huge Asiatic village -surmounts the ruins of that second Rome, of that -great museum of treasures stripped from all Italy, -from Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, one’s heart sinks -within him: the mere thought of such an accumulation -of works of art makes one dizzy. And where -are they now, those great arcades which traversed -the city from wall to sea, those gilded domes and -colossal equestrian statues which surmounted the -mighty columns before baths and amphitheatres, -those brazen sphinxes seated upon pedestals of -porphyry, those temples and palaces which once -reared their mighty façades of granite in the midst<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74">74</a></span> -of an aërial throng of marble deities and silver -emperors? All have disappeared or been changed -past recognition. The equestrian statues of bronze -have been recast into guns, the copper coverings of -the obelisks converted into money, the sarcophagi -of the emperors turned into fountains. The church -of St. Irene is an armory: the cistern of Constantine<a id="FNanchor_E" href="#Footnote_E" class="fnanchor">E</a> -is a workshop; the pedestal of the column of Arcadius -is occupied by a blacksmith; the Hippodrome -is a horse-market; the foundations of the royal -palaces are heaps of stones overgrown with ivy; the -pavements of the amphitheatre, grass-grown cemeteries. -A few inscriptions, half obliterated by -fire or defaced by the simetars of the invaders, are -all that remain to tell us that on these hills once -stood the marvellous metropolis of the Empire of -the East. And over all this mass of ruin and decay -Stambul sits brooding, like some odalisque above a -sepulchre, awaiting her hour.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_E" href="#FNanchor_E" class="fnanchor">E</a> The Cistern Basilica, ascribed to Constantine the Great, is -still used for its original purpose. The Cistern Philoxenes is -occupied by silk-spinners.—<span class="smcap">Trans.</span></p></div> - -<h3><span class="smcap">At the Hotel.</span></h3> - -<p>And now, if my readers will kindly accompany -me back to the hotel, we will rest for a while. The -greater part of what I have described thus far having -been seen by my friend and myself on the very -day of our arrival, one may easily imagine what a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75">75</a></span> -condition our brains were in as we wended our way -toward the hotel at about nightfall. As we passed -through the streets neither of us opened our lips, -but on reaching our room we dropped on the sofa, -and, facing about, asked each other simultaneously,</p> - -<p>“Well, what do you think of it? How does it -strike you?”</p> - -<p>“Fancy my having come here to paint!”</p> - -<p>“And I to write!”</p> - -<p>And we laughed in each other’s faces with amused -compassion.</p> - -<p>Indeed, that evening and for many days after -His Majesty Abdul-Aziz might have offered me a -province in Asia Minor as a reward for a half-dozen -lines of description of the capital of his state, and I -could not have produced them, so true is it that you -must get a little distance away from great objects -before you can describe them, and if you wish to -remember them correctly, you must first forget them -somewhat.</p> - -<p>And then how could one possibly do any writing -in a room from whose windows could be seen the -Bosphorus, Skutari, and the summit of the Olympus? -The hotel was a sight in itself. At all hours -of the day people of every country in the world -were coming and going through the halls and corridors, -up and down the stairs. Every evening -twenty different nationalities were represented at -table. I could not get the idea out of my head during<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76">76</a></span> -dinner that I must be an envoy sent out by the -Italian government, and that it devolved upon me to -introduce some grave question of international importance -with the dessert. There were many charming -countenances of ladies; rough, uncombed artist -heads; seamy adventurers lying in wait for your -money; profiles like those of the Byzantine Virgin, -lacking nothing but the golden nimbus; queer faces -and sinister ones; and every day this motley company -changed. At dessert, when every one was -talking, it sounded like the Tower of Babel. On -the day of our arrival we struck up an acquaintance -with a party of Russians infatuated with Constantinople, -and after that every evening, when we met at -table, we would compare notes. Each one had visited -some point of interest during the day and had -some interesting experience to relate. This one had -been to the top of the Serasker Tower, that one to -the Eyûb cemetery; another had spent the day in -Skutari; another was just back from a trip on the -Bosphorus. The conversation glowed with vivid -descriptions, life, color, and when one’s command of -language failed him the delicious perfumed wines of -the Archipelago were at hand to loose his tongue -and stimulate him to fresh efforts. There were, it is -true, some fellow-countrymen of mine there who -made me furiously angry—moneyed idiots who from -soup to dessert never left off abusing Constantinople, -and Providence for bringing them there.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77">77</a></span> -There were no sidewalks, the theatres were badly -lighted, there was no way of passing the evening—apparently -they had come to Constantinople to pass -their evenings. One of them having made the trip -on the Danube, I asked him how he had liked the -famous river, upon which he assured me that there -was no place on earth where they understood so well -how sturgeon should be cooked as on the Austrian -Royal and Imperial line of steamboats! Another -was a charming example of the lady-killer style of -traveller, whose main object in going about the -world is to make conquests, carefully recorded in a -notebook kept for the purpose. He was a tall, -lanky blond, liberally endowed with the greatest of -the three gifts of the Holy Spirit. Whenever the -conversation turned upon Turkish women, he would -fix his eyes upon his plate with a meaning smile and -take no part in it, except for an occasional word or -two, when he would break off suddenly, taking a sip -of wine as though he feared he had said too much. -He always hurried into dinner a little behind time, -with an important air suggestive of his having been -unavoidably detained by the Sultan, and between the -courses would busy himself in changing mysterious-looking -little notes from one pocket to another, evidently -intended to look like billetsdoux from frail -fair ones, but which, oddly enough, bore the unmistakable -stamp of hotel-bills.</p> - -<p>But one certainly does run across all sorts of queer<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78">78</a></span> -subjects in the hotels of those cosmopolitan cities: -no one would believe it without seeing for himself. -For instance, there was a young Hungarian there, -about thirty years old, a tall, nervous fellow with a -pair of diabolical eyes and a quick, feverish way of -talking. After acting for some time as private secretary -to a rich Parisian, he had enlisted among the -French Zouaves in Algiers, was wounded and taken -prisoner by the Arabs, and, escaping later from Morocco, -had made his way back to Europe, where he -hastened to The Hague, hoping to receive an appointment -as officer in the war with the <i>Achins</i>; failing -in this, he determined to enlist in the Turkish army, -but while passing through Vienna on his way to -Constantinople for that purpose he had gotten -mixed up in some affair about a woman. In the duel -which ensued he had received a ball in his neck, the -scar from which could still be seen. Unsuccessful -at Constantinople as well, “What,” said he, “is -there left for me to do?—je suis enfant de l’aventure. -Fight I must. Well, I have found the means of getting -to India;” and he brought out a steamer ticket. -“I shall enlist as an English soldier: there is always -some fighting going on in the interior, and that is -all I care for. Killed? Well, what if I am? My -lungs are all gone, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>Another queer creature was a Frenchman whose -life seemed to have been one prolonged struggle -with the postal authorities all over the world. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79">79</a></span> -had lawsuits pending with the post-office departments -of Austria, France, and England; he wrote -protesting articles to the <i>Neue Freie Presse</i>, and -fired off telegraphic messages of defiance to every -post-office on the Continent; not a day went by -without his having some noisy altercation at a window -where mail was received or distributed; he -never, by any chance, received a letter on time or -wrote one that reached its destination. At table he -would give us an account of all his misfortunes and -consequent disputes, invariably winding up with the -statement that the postal system had been the means -of shortening his life.</p> - -<p>Then there was a Greek lady with a strange, -wild look and very curiously dressed: she was -always alone, and every day would start suddenly -up in the middle of dinner and leave the table after -making a cabalistic sign over her plate whose significance -no one was ever able to make out.</p> - -<p>I have never forgotten, either, a good-looking -young Wallachian couple, he about twenty-five, she -just grown, who only appeared one evening: it was -an undoubted case of elopement, for if you looked -fixedly at them they both turned red and appeared -uneasy, and every time the door opened they jumped -as though they were on springs.</p> - -<p>Let me see: what others can I remember? Hundreds, -I suppose, were I to give my mind to it. It -was like a magic-lantern show.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80">80</a></span> -On the days when the steamers were due my -friend and I used to find the greatest amusement in -watching the new arrivals as they came into the -hotel, exhausted, confused, some of them still under the -influence of the approach to Constantinople—countenances -which seemed to say, “What world is this? -What on earth have we dropped into?” One day a -boy passed us, that instant landed; he was entirely -beside himself with joy at having actually reached -Constantinople, the culmination of his dreams, and -was squeezing his father’s hand between both his -own in an ecstasy of delight, while the father, -equally moved by the sight of his son’s happiness, -was saying, “Je suis heureux, de te voir heureux, -mon cher enfant.”</p> - -<p>We used to pass the hot part of the day gazing -out of our windows at the Maiden’s Tower, which -rises up, white as snow, from a solitary rock in the -Bosphorus just opposite Skutari, and while we told -each other stories about the legend of the young -prince of Persia who sucked the poison from the arm -of the beautiful sultana bitten by a snake, a little fellow -of five years old would chatter across at us from -the window of an opposite house, where he appeared -every day at the same hour.</p> - -<p>Everything about that hotel was queer: among -other things, we would run every evening against -one or two doubtful-looking characters hovering -around in front of the entrance. They evidently<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81">81</a></span> -gained a livelihood by providing artists’ models, and, -taking every one for a painter, would assail all who -came and went with the same low-voiced inquiries: -“A Turk? A Greek? An Armenian? A Jewess? -A Negress?”</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Constantinople.</span></h3> - -<p>But suppose, now, we turn our attention again to -Constantinople itself, and wander about as unrestrainedly -as birds of the air? It is a place where one may -give free rein to his caprices. You can light your -cigar in Europe and knock the ashes off in Asia, and, -getting up in the morning, ask yourself what part -of the world it would be pleasant to visit during the -day, with two continents and two seas to choose -from. Saddled horses stand waiting for you in -every square; boats with their sails spread are -ready to take you anywhere you may choose to go; -steamboats lie at every pier awaiting nothing but the -signal to depart; kâiks manned with rowers and -skiffs fitted with sails crowd the landing-places; -while an army of guides, speaking every language -of Europe, is at your disposal for as long a time as -you may want any of them. Do you care to hear -an Italian comedy? see the Dancing Dervishes? -listen to the buffooneries of Kara-gyuz, the Turkish -Punchinello? be treated to the licentious songs -of the Parisian café chantant? watch the gymnastic -performances of a band of gypsies? listen to an<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82">82</a></span> -Arabian story-teller? attend a Greek theatre? hear -an <i>imam</i> preach? see the Sultan pass on his way to -the mosque? You have but to say what you prefer -and it is ready at hand. Every nationality is at -your service—Armenians to shave you, Hebrews to -clean your shoes, Turks to row your boat, negroes -to dry you after the bath, Greeks to bring your -coffee, and one and all to cheat you. Perhaps you -are heated from your walk? here are ices made -from the snows of Olympus. Thirsty? you can -drink the waters of the Nile as the Sultan does. -Should your stomach be a little out of order, here is -water from the Euphrates to set it straight, or, if -you are nervous, water from the Danube. You can -dine like the Arab of the desert or a gourmand of -the <i>Maison dorée</i>. If you want to doze and drowse, -there are the cemeteries; to be stirred up and excited, -the bridge of the Validêh Sultan; to dream -dreams and see visions, the Bosphorus; to pass Sunday, -the Archipelago of the Princes; to see Asia -Minor, Mt. Bûlgurlû, the Golden Horn, the Galata -Tower, the world, the Serasker Tower. It is, above -all, a city of contrasts. Things which we never -think of connecting in our minds are seen there at -a single glance side by side.</p> - -<p>Skutari is the starting-point for the caravans for -Mecca, and also for the express trains for Brusa, the -ancient metropolis; the Sofia railroad passes close -by the mysterious walls of the old Seraglio; Catholic<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83">83</a></span> -priests bear the Holy Sacrament through the -streets escorted by Turkish soldiers; the common -people have their festivals in the cemeteries; life -and death, sorrow and rejoicing, follow so close upon -one another’s heels as to seem all a part of the same -function. There are seen the movement and energy -of London side by side with the lethargic inertia of -the East. The greater part of existence is led in -public before your eyes, but over the private side -of life there hangs a close, impenetrable veil of -mystery; under that absolute monarchy there exists -a liberty without bounds.</p> - -<p>It is impossible, for several days at least, to get a -clear impression of anything: it seems every moment -that if the disorder is not quelled at once a -revolution must break out. Every evening you feel, -on reaching your lodgings, as though you had just -returned from a long journey, and in the morning -ask yourself incredulously if Stambul can really be -here, close at hand. There seems to be no place -where you can go to get your brain a little clear; -one impression effaces another; you are torn by conflicting -desires; time flies. You think you would like -to spend the rest of your life here, and the next moment -wish you could leave to-morrow. And when it -comes to attempting a description of this chaos—well, -there are moments when you are strongly tempted -to bundle together all the books and papers on your -table and pitch the whole thing out of the window.</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85">85</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="h_85">ALONG THE GOLDEN HORN.</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87">87</a></span> -It was not until the fourth day after our arrival -that my friend and I attempted to introduce anything -like method into our sightseeing. We were -on the bridge quite early in the morning, still uncertain -as to how we would spend the day, when Yunk -proposed that we should make our first regular expedition -with tranquil minds and a well-defined -route for purposes of study and observation. “Let -us,” said he, “explore thoroughly the northern bank -of the Golden Horn, if we have to walk till nightfall -to do it; we can breakfast in some Turkish restaurant, -take our noonday nap under a sycamore -tree, and come home by water in a käik.” The suggestion -being accepted, we provided ourselves with -a stock of cigars and small change, and, after glancing -over the map of the city, set forth in the direction -of Galata.</p> - -<p>If the reader really cares to know anything about -Constantinople, I am afraid he will have to make up -his mind to go too, with the clear understanding, -however, that whenever he finds himself getting -bored he is at perfect liberty to leave us.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88">88</a></span></p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Galata.</span></h3> - -<p>On reaching Galata the excursion begins. Galata -is situated on the hill which forms the promontory -between the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, the -former site of ancient Byzantium’s great cemetery. -It is now the “city” of Constantinople. Its streets, -almost all of them narrow and tortuous, are lined -with restaurants, confectioners’, barbers’, and butchers’ -shops, Greek and Armenian cafés, business-houses, -merchants’ offices, workshops, counting-houses—dirty, -ill-lighted, damp, and narrow, like the streets -in the lower parts of London. A hurrying, pushing -throng of foot-passengers comes and goes all day -long, now and then crowding to right and left to -make room in the middle of the street for the passage -of porters, carriages, donkeys, or omnibuses. Almost -all the business conducted in Constantinople flows -through this quarter. Here are the Bourse, the -custom-house, the offices of the Austrian Lloyd and -the French express company, churches and convents, -hospitals and warehouses. An underground railroad -connects Galata and Pera. Were it not for the -ever-present turban or fez, one would hardly know -he was in the East at all. On every side is heard -French, Italian, and Genoese. The Genoese are, in -fact, almost on their native soil here, and are still -somewhat inclined to assume the airs of proprietors, -as in the days when they opened and closed the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89">89</a></span> -harbor at their will and replied to the emperor’s -threats with volleys from their cannon. Of this -ancient glory, however, nothing now remains except -a few old houses supported on great pilasters and -heavy arches, and the ancient edifice which was -once the residence of the Podesta.</p> - -<p>Old Galata has almost entirely disappeared. -Thousands of squalid houses have been razed to the -ground to make room for two wide streets, one of -which mounts to the summit of the hill toward Pera, -while the other runs parallel with the sea-wall from -one end of Galata to the other. My friend and I -took the latter, seeking refuge from time to time in -some shop or other when a huge omnibus rolled by, -preceded by Turks stripped to the waist, who -cleared the street by means of long sticks, with -which they laid about them. At every step some -fresh cry assailed the ear, Turkish porters yelling, -“<i>Sacun ha!</i>” (Make room!); Armenian water-carriers -calling out, “<i>Varme su!</i>” and the -Greek, “<i>Crio nero!</i>” Turkish donkey-drivers crying, -“<i>Burada!</i>” venders of sweetmeats, “<i>Scerbet!</i>” -newsboys, “<i>Neologos!</i>” Frankish cab-drivers, -“<i>Guarda! guarda!</i>”</p> - -<p>After walking for ten minutes we were completely -stunned. Coming to a certain place, we noticed with -surprise that the paving of the street suddenly -ceased: it had evidently been removed quite recently. -We stopped to examine the roadway and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90">90</a></span> -discover, if possible, some reason for this eccentricity, -when an Italian shopkeeper, seeing what we were -about, came to the rescue and satisfied our curiosity. -This street, it seemed, led to the Sultan’s palace, and -a few months previously, while the imperial cortège -was passing along it, the horse of His Majesty -Abdul-Aziz stumbled and fell. The good Sultan, -much annoyed by this circumstance, commanded -that the pavement should be removed all the way -from the spot where the accident occurred, to the -palace; which of course had been done. Fixing -upon this memorable spot as the eastern boundary -of our walk, we now turned our backs upon the -Bosphorus and proceeded, by a series of dark, -crooked little streets, in the direction of the</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Tower of Galata.</span></h3> - -<p>The city of Galata is shaped like an open fan, of -which the tower, placed on the crest of the hill, represents -the pivot. This tower is round, very lofty, -dark in color, and terminates in a conical point -formed by a copper roof, directly beneath which runs -a line of large glazed windows, forming a sort of -gallery enclosed with glass, where a lookout is kept -night and day ready to give warning of the first -appearance of fire in any part of the immense city. -The Galata of the Genoese extended as far as this -tower, which stands on the exact line of the walls -which once divided it from Pera—walls of which at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91">91</a></span> -present no trace remains;<a id="FNanchor_F" href="#Footnote_F" class="fnanchor">F</a> nor is the present tower -the same as that ancient Tower of Christ, erected in -memory of the Genoese who fell in battle, having -been rebuilt by Mahmûd II., and prior to that restored -by Selim III.,<a id="FNanchor_G" href="#Footnote_G" class="fnanchor">G</a> but it is none the less a monument to -the glory of Genoa, and one upon which no Italian -can gaze without feeling some pride at the thought -of that handful of soldiers, merchants, and sailors—haughty, -audacious, proud, stubborn—who for -centuries floated the flag of the mother republic from -its summit and treated with the emperors of the -East as equals.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_F" href="#FNanchor_F" class="fnanchor">F</a> A few traces of these walls may still be seen near the Galata -Tower.—<span class="smcap">Trans.</span></p> - -<p><a id="Footnote_G" href="#FNanchor_G" class="fnanchor">G</a> The Galata Tower, called in the Middle Ages the Tower -of Christ or of the Cross, was built in 1348, probably on the foundations -of an earlier Byzantine tower ascribed to Anastasius Dicorus, -and in the present century was repaired by Mahmûd II.—<span class="smcap">Trans.</span></p></div> - -<div id="if_i_090" class="figcenter" style="width: 515px;"> - <img src="images/i_090.jpg" width="515" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Tower of Galata.</div></div> - -<p>Immediately beyond the tower we came upon a -Mussulman cemetery.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Galata Cemetery.</span></h3> - -<p>This is called the Galata Cemetery. It is a great -forest of cypress trees, extending from the summit -of the hill of Pera all the way down the steep declivity, -nearly to the edge of the Golden Horn, and -casting its thick shadows over myriads of little -stone and marble pillars—inclining at every angle<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92">92</a></span> -and scattered irregularly over the hillside. Some of -these are surmounted by round turbans on which -may be seen traces of coloring and inscriptions; -others are pointed at the top, many lie prone upon -their sides, while from others the turbans have been -cut clean off, making one fancy that they belong to -Janissaries, whom, even after death, Sultan Mahmûd -took occasion to degrade and insult. The greater -part of the graves are merely indicated by square -mounds of earth, having a stone at either end, upon -which, according to Mussulman belief, the two -angels Nekir and Munkir take their seats to judge -the soul of the departed. Here and there may be -seen small enclosures surrounded by a low wall or -railing, in the middle of which stands a column surmounted -by a huge turban, and all around it other -smaller columns: this is the grave of some pasha or -person of distinction buried in the midst of his -wives and children. Footpaths wind in and out -among the graves and trees, crossing and recrossing -one another in all directions from one end of the -cemetery to the other. A Turk seated in the shade -smokes tranquilly; boys run about and chase each -other among the tombs; here and there cows are -grazing, and a multitude of turtle-doves bill and coo -among the branches of the cypress trees; groups -of veiled women pass from time to time; and -through the leaves and branches glimpses are -caught of the blue waters of the Golden Horn<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93">93</a></span> -streaked with long white reflections from the minarets -of Stambul.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Pera.</span></h3> - -<p>Coming out of the cemetery, we passed once more -close to the base of the Galata Tower and took the -principal street of Pera. Pera lies more than three -hundred feet above the level of the sea, is bright -and cheerful, and overlooks both the Golden Horn -and the Bosphorus. It is the “West End” of the -European colony, the quarter where are to be found -the comforts and elegancies of life. The street which -we now followed is lined on both sides with English -and French hotels, cafés of the better sort, brilliantly -lighted shops, theatres, foreign consulates, -clubs, and the residences of the various ambassadors, -among which towers the great stone palace of -the Russian embassy, commanding Galata, Pera, and -the village of Fundukli on the shore of the Bosphorus, -for all the world like a fortress.</p> - -<p>The crowds which swarm and throng these streets -are altogether unlike those of Galata. Hardly any but -stiff hats are to be seen, unless we except the masses -of flowers and feathers which adorn the heads of the -ladies: here are Greek, Italian, and French dandies, -merchant princes, officials of the various legations, -foreign navy officers, ambassadors’ equipages, and -doubtful-looking physiognomies of every nationality. -Turkish men stand admiring the wax heads in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94">94</a></span> -hairdressers’ windows, and the women pause open-mouthed -before the showcases of the milliners’ -shops. The Europeans talk and laugh more loudly -here than elsewhere, cracking jokes in the middle of -the street, while the Turks, feeling themselves, as it -were, foreigners, carry their heads less high than in -the streets of Stambul.</p> - -<p>As we walked along my friend suddenly called -my attention to the view, behind us, of Stambul. -Sure enough, there lay the Seraglio hill, St. Sophia, -and the minarets of the mosque of Sultan Ahmed, -all faintly veiled in blue mist—an altogether different -world from the one in which we stood. “And -now,” said he, “look there!” Following the direction -of his finger, I read the titles of some of the -books displayed in the window of an adjacent stationer’s -shop—<i>La Dame aux Camelias</i>, <i>Madame Bovary</i>, -<i>Mademoiselle Giraud ma Femme</i>—and experienced -so curious a sensation at the rapid and -violent contrast thus presented that for some moments -I was obliged to stand quite still in order to -adjust my ideas. At another time I stopped my -companion to make him look in a wonderful café we -were passing. It was a long, wide, dim corridor, -ending in a large open window, through which we -beheld, at what seemed to be an immense distance, -Skutari flooded with sunlight.</p> - -<p>When we had proceeded for some distance along -the Grande Rue de Pera and nearly reached the end, we<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95">95</a></span> -were startled by hearing a voice, quite close at hand, -exclaiming in tones of thunder, “Adèle, I love thee! -I love thee better than life itself! I love thee even -as much as it is given to men to love upon earth!” -We gazed at one another in astonishment. Where -on earth did the voice come from? Looking about -us, we discovered on one side of the street a wooden -fence through the cracks of which a large garden -could be seen filled with benches, and at the farther -end a stage on which a troupe of actors were rehearsing -the performance for the evening. A Turkish -lady not far from us stood peeping in as well, -and laughed with great enjoyment at the scene, -while an old Turk, passing by, shook his head disapprovingly. -Suddenly with a loud shriek the lady -fled down the street; other women in the neighborhood -echoed the shriek and turned their backs rapidly. -What could have happened? Turning around, -we beheld a Turk about fifty years old, well known -throughout all Constantinople, who elected to go -about the streets clad with the same severe simplicity -which the famous monk Turi was so anxious -to impose upon all good Mussulmen during the reign -of Muhammad IV.; that is, stark naked from head -to foot. The wretched creature advanced, leaping -on the stones, shouting and breaking forth into loud -bursts of laughter, followed by a crowd of ragamuffins -making a noise like that of the infernal regions. -“It is to be devoutly hoped that he will be promptly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96">96</a></span> -arrested,” said I to the doorkeeper of the theatre. -“Not the smallest likelihood of anything of the -sort,” replied he; “he has been going about like -that for months.” In the mean while I could see -people all the way down the street coming to the -doors of the shops, women getting out of the way, -young girls covering their faces, doors being shut, -heads disappearing from the windows. And this -thing goes on every day, and no one so much as -gives it a thought!</p> - -<div class="tb">* <span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">*</span></div> - -<p>On issuing from the Grande Rue de Pera we find -ourselves opposite another large Mussulman cemetery -shaded by groves of cypress trees and enclosed -between high walls. Had we not been informed -later on of the reason for those walls, we should -certainly never have guessed it. They had evidently -been quite recently erected, to prevent, it would -seem, the woods consecrated to the repose of the -dead from being converted into a trysting-spot -where the soldiers from the neighboring artillery -barracks were wont to meet their sweethearts. A -little farther on we came upon the barracks, a -huge, solid, rectangular structure, built by Shalil -Pasha in the Moorish style of the Turkish Renaissance, -its great portal flanked by light columns and -surmounted by the crescent and golden star of -Muhammad, and having balconies and small windows -ornamented with carving and arabesques. In front<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97">97</a></span> -of the barracks runs the Rue Dgiedessy, a continuation -of the Grande Rue de Pera, on the other side -of which stretches an extensive parade-ground; -beyond that, again, are other suburbs. During the -week this neighborhood is buried in the most profound -silence and solitude, but on Sunday afternoons -it is crowded with people and equipages, all the gay -world of Pera pouring out to scatter itself among the -beer-gardens, cafés, and pleasure-resorts which lie -beyond the barracks. It was in one of these cafés -that we broke our fast—the café <i>Belle Vue</i>, a resort -of the flower of Pera society, and well deserving its -name, since from its immense gardens, extending -like a terrace over the summit of the hill, you have, -spread out before you, the large Mussulman village -of Fundukli, the Bosphorus covered with ships, the -coast of Asia dotted over with gardens and villages, -Skutari with her glistening white mosques—a luxuriance -of color, green foliage, blue sea, and sky all -bathed in light, which form a scene of intoxicating -beauty. We arose at last unwillingly, and both of -us felt like niggards as we threw our eight wretched -sous on the counter, the bare price of a couple of -cups of coffee after having been treated to that -celestial vision.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Great Field of the Dead.</span></h3> - -<p>Coming out of the Belle Vue, we found ourselves -in the midst of the Grand Champs des Morts, where<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98">98</a></span> -the dead of every faith except the Jewish are buried -in distinct cemeteries. It is a vast, thick wood of -cypress, sycamore, and acacia trees, in whose shadow -are thousands of white tombstones, having the -appearance, at a little distance, of the ruins of some -great building. In between the trunks of the trees -distant views are caught of the Bosphorus and the -Asiatic coast. Broad paths wind in and out among -the graves, along which groups of Greeks and Armenians -may be seen passing to and fro. On some of -the tombs Turks are seated cross-legged, gazing -fixedly at the Bosphorus. One experiences the -same delicious sense of refreshment and peace and -rest, as on entering a vast, dim cathedral on some -hot summer’s day.</p> - -<p>We paused in the Armenian cemetery. The stones -here are all large, flat, and covered with inscriptions -cut in the regular and elegant characters of the -Armenian language, and on almost every one there -is some figure to indicate the trade or occupation of -the deceased. There are hammers, chairs, pens, -coffers, and necklaces; the banker is represented by -a pair of weights and scales, the priest by a mitre, -the barber has his basin, the surgeon a lancet. On -one stone we saw a head detached from the body, -which was streaming with blood: it was the grave -of either a murdered man or else one who had been -executed. Alongside it was stretched an Armenian, -sound asleep, with his head thrown back.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99">99</a></span> -We passed on next to the Mussulman cemetery. -Here were to be seen the same multitude of little -columns, either in rows or standing about in irregular -groups, some of them painted and gilded on top, -those of the women culminating in ornamental -bunches of flowers carved in relief, many of them -surrounded with shrubs and flowering plants. As -we stood looking at one of them, two Turks, leading -a child by the hand, passed down the path to a tomb -some little distance off, on reaching which they -paused, and, having spread out the contents of a -package one of them carried under his arm, they -seated themselves on the tombstone and began to eat. -I stood watching them. When the meal was ended -the elder of the two wrapped what appeared to be a -fish and a piece of bread in a scrap of paper, and -with a gesture of respect placed it in a hole beside -the grave. This having been done, they both lit -their pipes and fell to smoking tranquilly, while the -child ran up and down and played among the trees. -It was explained to me later that the fish and bread -were that portion of their repast which Turks -leave as a sign of affection for relatives probably -not long dead; the hole was the small opening -made in the ground near the head of every Mussulman -grave in order that the departed may hear the -sobs and lamentations of their dear ones left on -earth, and occasionally receive a few drops of rose-water -or enjoy the scent of the flowers. Their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100">100</a></span> -mortuary smoke concluded, the two pious Turks -arose, and, taking the child once more by the hand, -disappeared among the cypress trees.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Pankaldi.</span></h3> - -<p>On coming out of the cemetery we found ourselves -in another Christian quarter—Pankaldi—traversed -by wide streets lined with new buildings -and surrounded by gardens, villas, hospitals, and -large barracks. This is the suburb of Constantinople -farthest away from the sea. After having seen -which, we turned back to redescend to the Golden -Horn. On reaching the last street, however, we -came unexpectedly upon a new and strikingly -solemn scene. It was a Greek funeral procession, -which advanced slowly toward us between a dense -and perfectly silent crowd of people packed together -on either side of the street. Heading the procession -came a group of Greek priests in their long embroidered -garments; then the archimandrite wearing -a crown upon his head and a long cape embroidered -in gold; behind him were a number of young ecclesiastics -clad in brilliant colors, and a group of -friends and relatives, all wearing their richest garments, -and in their midst the bier, covered with -flowers, on which lay the body of a young girl of -about fifteen dressed in satin and resplendent with -jewels. The face was exposed—such a dear little -face, white as snow, the mouth slightly contracted as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101">101</a></span> -if in pain, and two long tresses of beautiful black -hair lying across the shoulders and breast. The -bier passes, the crowd closes in behind the procession, -which is quickly lost to sight, and we find ourselves -standing, sobered and thoughtful, in the -midst of the deserted street.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">San Dmitri.</span></h3> - -<p>We now descended the hill, and, after crossing the -dry bed of a torrent and climbing up the ascent on -the other side, found ourselves in another suburb, San -Dmitri. Here almost the entire population is Greek. -On every side may be seen black eyes and fine aquiline -noses; patriarchal-looking old men and slight, sinewy -young ones; girls with hair hanging down their -backs, and bright intelligent-looking lads, who disport -themselves in the middle of the street among -the chickens and pigs, filling the air with their musical -cries and harmonious inflections. We approached -a group of these boys who were engaged -in pelting one another with pebbles, all chattering at -the same time. One of them, about eight years old, -the most impish-looking little rascal of the lot, kept -tossing his little fez in the air, every few minutes -calling out, “<i>Zito! zito!</i>” (Hurrah! hurrah!) -Suddenly he turned to another little chap seated on -a doorstep near by, and cried, “<i>Checchino! buttami -la palla!</i>” (Checchino! throw me the ball). Seizing -him by the arm as though I were a gypsy kidnapper, I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102">102</a></span> -said, “So you are an Italian?”—“Oh no, sir,” he -answered; “I belong to Constantinople.”—“Then -who taught you to speak Italian?”—“Oh that?” -said he; “why, my mother”—“And where is your -mother?” Just at that moment, though, a woman -carrying a baby in her arms approached, all smiles, -and explained to me that she was from Pisa, that she -and her husband, an engraver from Leghorn, had been -in Constantinople for eight years past, and that the -boy was theirs. Had this good woman had a handsome -matronly face, a turretted crown upon her head, -and a long mantle floating majestically from her -shoulders, she could not have brought the image of -Italy more forcibly before my eyes and mind. “And -how do you like living here?” I asked her. “What -do you think of Constantinople on the whole?”—“How -can I tell?” said she, smiling artlessly. -“It seems to be like a city that—well, to tell you -the truth, I can never get it out of my head that it -is the last day of the Carnival;” and then, giving -free rein to her Tuscan speech, she explained to us -that “<i>the Mussulman’s Christ is Mahomet</i>,” that a -Turk is allowed to marry four wives, that the Turkish -language is admirable for those who understand -it, and various other pieces of equally valuable information, -but which, told in that language and amid -those strange surroundings, gave us more pleasure -than the choicest bits of news—so much so, indeed, -that on parting we were fain to leave a small monetary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103">103</a></span> -expression of our esteem in the hand of the little -lad, and exclaimed simultaneously as we walked -off, “After all, there is nothing that sets one up so -as a mouthful of Italian now and then.”</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Totaola.</span></h3> - -<p>Recrossing the little valley, we came to another -Greek quarter, Totaola, where our stomachs gave us -a hint that this would be a favorable moment in -which to investigate the interior of one of those -innumerable restaurants of Constantinople, all of -which, built on the same plan, present the same extraordinary -appearance. There is one huge room, -which might on occasion be turned into a theatre, -lighted, as a rule, only by the door through which -you enter; around it runs a high wooden gallery furnished -with a balustrade. On one side is an enormous -stove at which a brigand in shirt-sleeves fries -fish, bastes the roast, mixes sauces, and devotes himself -generally to the business of shortening human -life; at a counter on the other side another forbidding-looking -individual serves out red and white -wine in glasses with handles; in the middle and -front of the apartment are low stools without backs -and little tables scarcely higher than the stools, looking -for all the world like cobblers’ benches. We -entered with some slight feeling of hesitation, not -knowing whether the groups of Greeks and Armenians -of the lower orders already assembled might<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104">104</a></span> -not evince some disagreeable signs of curiosity; on -the contrary, however, no one deigned so much as -to look at us. It is my belief that the population of -Constantinople is the least inquisitive of any on the -face of the globe. You must be the Sultan at least, -or else promenade through the streets without any -clothes on, like the madman of Pera, for people to -show that they are so much as aware of your existence. -Taking our seats in a corner, we waited some -time, but, as nothing happened, we finally concluded -that it must be the custom in Constantinopolitan restaurants -for every one to look out for himself. Advancing -then boldly to the stove, we each got a portion -of the roast—Heaven only knows from what -quadruped—and then, providing ourselves with a -glass apiece of the resinous Tenedos wine, we returned -to our corner, spread the repast out on a -table barely reaching to our knees, and, with a sidelong -glance at one another, fell to and consumed the -sacrifice. After resignedly settling the account we -walked out in perfect silence, afraid on our lives to -open our lips for fear a bray or a bark should escape -them, and resumed our walk in the direction of the -Golden Horn, somewhat chastened in spirit.</p> - -<div id="if_i_104" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_104.jpg" width="600" height="434" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Panorama of the Arsenal and Golden Horn.</div></div> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Kassim Pasha.</span></h3> - -<p>A walk of ten minutes brought us once more into -real Turkey, the great Mussulman suburb of Kassim -Pasha, a city in itself, filled with mosques and dervishes’<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105">105</a></span> -monasteries, which, with its kitchen-gardens -and shaded grounds, covers an entire hill and valley, -and, extending all the way to the Golden Horn, includes -all of the ancient bay of Mandsacchio, from -the cemetery of Galata quite to the promontory -which overlooks the Balata quarter on the other -shore. From the heights of Kassim Pasha a most -exquisite view is to be had. Beneath, on the water’s -edge, stands the enormous arsenal of Tersâne; -beyond it extends for more than a mile a labyrinth -of dry-docks, workshops, open squares, storehouses, -and barracks, skirting all that part of the Golden -Horn which serves as a port of war. The admiralty -building, airy and graceful, seeming to float upon the -surface of the water, stands out clearly against the -dark-green background of the Galata cemetery; -in the harbor innumerable small steamboats and -käiks, crowded with people, shoot in and out -among the stationary iron-clads and old frigates of -the Crimea; on the opposite bank lie Stambul, the -aqueduct of Valens, bearing aloft its mighty arches -into the blue heavens above, the great mosques of -Muhammad and Suleiman, and innumerable houses -and minarets. In order to take in all the details of -this scene we seated ourselves in front of a Turkish -café and sipped the fourth or fifth of the dozen or -more cups of coffee which, whether you wish to or -not, you are bound to imbibe in the course of every -day of your stay in Constantinople. This café was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106">106</a></span> -a very unpretending place, but, like all such establishments—Turkish -ones, that is—most original, -probably differing but little from those very first -ones started in the time of Suleiman the Great, or -those others into which the fourth Murad used to -burst so unexpectedly, cimeter in hand, when he -made his nocturnal rounds for the purpose of -wreaking summary vengeance upon venders of -the forbidden beverage. What numbers of imperial -edicts, theological disputes, and bloody quarrels -has this “enemy of sleep and fruitfulness,” as it -has been termed by ulemas of the strict school, -“genius of dreams and quickener of the mind,” as -the more liberal sects have it, been the cause of! -And now, after love and tobacco, it is the most -highly prized of all luxuries in the estimation of -every poor Osman. To-day coffee is drunk on the -summits of the Galata and Serasker towers; you -find it on the steamboats, in the cemeteries, in the -barber-shops, the baths, the bazârs. In whatever -part of Constantinople you may happen to be, if you -merely call out, “Café-gi!” without taking the -trouble to leave your seat, in three minutes a cup is -steaming before you.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Café.</span></h3> - -<p>Our café was a large whitewashed room, with a -wooden wainscoting five or six feet high, and a low -divan running around the four walls. In one corner<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107">107</a></span> -stood a stove at which a Turk with a hooked nose -was making coffee in little brass coffee-pots, from -which he poured it into tiny cups, adding the sugar -himself: this is the universal custom in Constantinople. -The coffee is made fresh for every new-comer -and handed to him already sweetened, together -with a glass of water, which the Turk always -drinks before approaching the cup to his lips. At -one side hung a small looking-glass, and beside it a -rack filled with razors: almost all the cafés in Constantinople -are barber-shops as well, the head of -the establishment combining these duties with those -of leech and dentist, and operating upon his victims -in the same apartment as that in which his guests -are drinking their coffee. On the opposite wall -hung another rack filled with crystal <i>narghilehs</i>, -their long, flexible tubes wound around like snakes, -and terra-cotta pipes with cherry-wood stems. Five -Turks were seated on the divan thoughtfully smoking -their <i>narghilehs</i>, and in front of the door three -others sat upon very low straw-bottomed stools, their -backs against the wall, side by side, with pipes in -their mouths; a youth belonging to the establishment -was engaged in shaving the head of a big, fat -dervish clad in a camel’s-hair tunic. No one looked -up as we took our seats, no one spoke, and, with the -exception of the coffee-maker and the young man, -no one made the slightest movement of any sort. -The gurgling sound of the water in the <i>narghilehs</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108">108</a></span> -something like the purring of cats, was all that -broke the profound stillness. Every one gazed -fixedly into vacancy, with faces absolutely devoid -of all expression, like an assembly of wax figures. -How many just such scenes as this have impressed -themselves indelibly upon my mind! A wooden -house, a cross-legged Turk, broad shafts of light, -an exquisite far-away view, profound silence,—there -you have Turkey. Every time I hear that word -pronounced these objects rise up before me in the -same way that one sees a canal and a windmill when -any one mentions Holland.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Piale Pasha.</span></h3> - -<p>From there, skirting along the edge of a large -Mussulman cemetery which extends from the top of -the Kassim Pasha hill to Tersâne, we proceeded -again in a northerly direction, and, descending into -the valley, reached the little district of Piale Pasha, -almost buried in her trees and gardens, and paused -before the mosque from which the quarter takes its -name. It is white and surmounted by six graceful -domes; the courtyard is surrounded by arches supported -on airy columns; there is a charming minaret, -and surrounding the whole a circle of enormous -cypress trees. At that hour all the neighboring -houses were tightly closed, the streets empty, and -even the courtyard of the mosque itself deserted; -the drowsiness and heat of noonday brooded over<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109">109</a></span> -everything, and, except for the dull buzzing of the -insects, not a sound was to be heard. Looking at -our watches, we found it wanted just three minutes -to twelve o’clock, one of the Mussulman’s five canonical -hours, at which the <i>muezzin</i>, appearing upon -the gallery of every minaret, announces to the four -quarters of the globe the religious formula of Islam. -We were perfectly well aware that in all Constantinople -there is not a minaret upon which, punctual as -clockwork, the messenger of the Prophet does not -appear at his appointed hour; at the same time we -could hardly bring ourselves to believe that in that -farthest outpost of the immense city, on that solitary, -out-of-the-way mosque as well, and amid that profound -silence and apparent desertion, the figure -would rise up, the message be delivered. Watch in -hand, I stood waiting with lively curiosity the stroke -of the hour, glancing now at the minute-hand, now -at the small doorway opening out on the gallery of -the minaret, about as high from the ground as the -fourth story of an ordinary house. Presently the -minute-hand reaches the sixtieth little black speck: -no one appeared. “He is not there,” said I.—“There -he is,” replied Yunk; and, true enough, there he -stood. The balustrade of the gallery concealed all -his person but the face, of which the distance was -too great to distinguish the features clearly. For a -few seconds he stood perfectly motionless: then, -closing both ears with his fingers and raising his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110">110</a></span> -face toward heaven, he chanted slowly, in high, -piercing accents, solemnly, mournfully, the sacred -words which at the same moment were resounding -from every minaret in Africa, Asia, and Europe: -“God is great! there is but one God! Mahomet is -his Prophet! Come to prayer! come and be saved! -God is great! there is none other! Come to prayer!” -Then, proceeding a part of the way around the balcony, -he repeated the same words toward the north, -then to the west, and then to the east, and finally -disappeared as he had come. At the same instant -we caught the faint far-away tones of a similar voice -in the distance, sounding like some one calling for -help. Then all was still, and we two were left standing -motionless and silent, with a vague feeling of -hopelessness, as though those two voices had been -addressed solely to us, calling upon us to fall down -and pray, and with the disappearance of the vision -we had been left alone in that still valley, like -beings abandoned by God and man. No tolling or -chime of bells has ever appealed to me so strongly, -and I then understood for the first time why it was -that Mahomet decided in favor of the human voice -as a means of summoning the faithful to their devotions, -rather than the ancient trumpet of the -Israelites or tymbal of the Christians. He hesitated -for some time before making up his mind, so that -the entire Orient narrowly escaped wearing an -aspect totally different from that of the present day.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111">111</a></span> -Had he selected the tymbal, which must inevitably -have become a bell later on, it is very certain that -the minaret would have gone, and with it would -have disappeared for ever one of the most charming -and distinctive features of both town and country in -the East.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Ok-Meidan.</span></h3> - -<p>Mounting the hill to the west of Piale Pasha, we -reached a vast open plain from which there is a view -of Stambul and the entire length of the Golden -Horn from Eyûb to Seraglio Point, four miles of -mosque and garden—a scene so overpoweringly -beautiful that one is tempted to fall upon his knees -as before some heavenly vision. On the Ok-Meidan -(Place of Arrows) the sultans used formerly to practise -shooting with the bow and arrow, after the -custom of the Persian kings. A number of small -stone obelisks and pillars scattered about irregularly -bear inscriptions each to the effect that upon that spot -some imperial arrow has fallen. The beautiful kiosk -is still standing from whose tribune the sultan was -wont to draw his bow; on the right were drawn up -a long line of pashas and beys, living exclamation-points -indicative of the admiration excited by their -lord’s dexterity; to the left stood a group of twelve -pages belonging to the imperial family, whose duty -it was to run after and pick up the arrows, marking -the spots on which they fell; hidden behind the surrounding<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112">112</a></span> -trees and shrubbery a few venturesome -Turks peeped out who had stolen thither to gaze -fearfully upon the sublime countenance of the -vicar of God; while in the tribune, in the attitude -of some haughty athlete, stood the sultan Mahmûd, -the mightiest archer of the empire, his flashing eye -compelling the bystanders to avert their gaze, and -that famous beard, black as the raven’s feathers of -Mt. Taurus, gleaming afar against the white tunic -all spotted with the blood of the Janissaries. All -this has now changed and become utterly commonplace. -The Sultan practises with a revolver in the -courtyard of his palace, while Ok-Meidan is used -by the infantry for target-practice. On one side -stands a dervish monastery, on the other a solitary -café, and the whole place is as melancholy and deserted -as a steppe.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Piri Pasha.</span></h3> - -<p>Descending from the Ok-Meidan toward the -Golden Horn, we came to another little Mussulman -quarter called Piri Pasha, possibly after the famous -vizier of the time of the first Selim, who educated -Suleiman the Magnificent. Piri Pasha faces the -Jewish quarter of Balata, situated on the opposite -bank of the Golden Horn. We met nothing as we -passed through it except a few dogs and occasionally -an old Turkish beggar; we did not regret this, -however, as it gave us an opportunity to examine its<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113">113</a></span> -construction at our leisure. It is a very curious fact -that on entering any quarter of Constantinople, after -having seen it from the water or some adjacent -height, you invariably experience precisely the same -shock of astonishment as on going behind the scenes -of a theatre after having witnessed some beautiful -spectacular effect from the stalls. You are filled -with amazement to find that the combination of all -these mean and ugly objects is what has just produced -so charming a whole. I suppose there is no -other city in the world whose beauty is so entirely -dependent on general effect as Constantinople. -Seen from Balata, Piri Pasha is the prettiest little -village imaginable, smiling, radiant with color, -decked with foliage, its charming image reflected in -the Golden Horn like the features of some beautiful -nymph, awakening dreams of love and pleasure in -the breast. Enter it and the whole thing changes: -you find nothing but rude, mean little houses colored -like booths at a country fair, filthy courts looking -like witches’ dens, groups of dusty fig and cypress -trees, gardens littered with rubbish, narrow, deserted -streets—dirt, misery, wretchedness. But run down -the hillside, jump into a käik, and give half a dozen -strokes with the oars, behold! the fairy city has reappeared, -beautiful and fascinating as before.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Haskeui.</span></h3> - -<p>Continuing along the shore of the Golden Horn, we<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114">114</a></span> -descended into another suburb, vast, populous, wearing -an entirely different aspect from the last, and -where we saw quite plainly, after taking half a dozen -steps, that we were no longer among Mussulmans. On -all sides dirty children covered with sores were rolling -about on the ground; bent, ragged old crones sat -working with their skinny fingers in the doorways, -through which glimpses could be caught of dusky interiors -cluttered up with heaps of old iron and rags; -men clad in long, dirty cloaks, with tattered handkerchiefs -wound around their heads, skulked along -close to the wall, glancing furtively about them; -thin, meagre faces peered out of the windows as we -went by; old clothes dangled from cords suspended -between the houses; mud and litter everywhere. It -was Haskeui, the Jewish quarter, the Ghetto of the -northern shore of the Golden Horn, facing that on -the other shore, with which, at the time of the -Crimean War, it was connected by a wooden bridge, -all traces of which have since disappeared. From -here stretches another long chain of arsenals, military -schools, barracks, and drill-grounds, extending -nearly all the way to the end of the Golden Horn. -But of these we saw nothing, our heads and our legs -having given out equally. Of all that we had seen, -there only remained a confused jumble of places -and people; it seemed as though we had been travelling -for a week, and we thought of far-away Pera -with a slight sensation of home-sickness. At this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115">115</a></span> -point we should certainly have turned back had not -our solemn compact made upon the bridge come into -our minds, and Yunk, according to his helpful custom, -revived my drooping spirits by chanting the -grand march from <i>Aida</i>.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Kaliji Oghlu.</span></h3> - -<p>Forward, then! Traversing another Turkish cemetery -and climbing still another hill, we found ourselves -in the suburb of Kaliji Oghlu, inhabited by a mixed -population. In this little city, at every street-corner, -you come upon a new race or a new religion. You -mount, descend, climb up, pass among tombs and -mosques, churches and synagogues. You skirt gardens -and cemeteries, encounter handsome Armenian -women with fine matronly figures, slender Turkish -ones who steal a look at you through their veils; all -around you hear Greek, Armenian, Spanish—the -Spanish of the Jews—and you walk on and on and -on. “After all, you know,” we say to one another, -“Constantinople must end somewhere.” Everything -on earth has an end. We have been told so ever -since we were children. On and on and on, and -now the houses of Kaliji Oghlu grow fewer, woods -begin to appear; there is but one more group of -dwellings. Quickening our pace, we passed them by, -and at last <span class="locked">reached—</span></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116">116</a></span></p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Sudludji.</span></h3> - -<p>Merciful Heavens! what did we reach? Nothing -in the world but another suburb, the Christian -settlement of Sudludji, built on a hill surrounded by -woods and cemeteries, the same hill at whose base -was formerly one end of the only bridge which in -ancient times connected the two banks of the Golden -Horn. But this suburb, by a merciful providence, -was actually the last, and our excursion had finally -come to an end. Quitting the houses, we cast about -us for some spot where we might seek a little much-needed -repose. Back of the village there rises a -bare, steep ascent, up which dragging our weary -limbs, we found before us the largest Jewish cemetery -in Constantinople. It is a vast open space, filled -with innumerable flat gravestones, presenting the -desolate appearance of a city destroyed by an earthquake, -and unrelieved by a tree or flower or blade -of grass, or even so much as a footpath—a desert -solitude as depressing to look upon as the scene of -some great disaster. Seating ourselves upon one of -the tombs, we turned in the direction of the Golden -Horn, and while resting our tired bodies feasted our -eyes upon the superb panorama which lay spread out -before us. At our feet lay Sudludji, Kaliji Oghlu, -Haskeui, Piri Pasha, a chain of picturesque villages -set in the midst of green gardens and cemeteries -and blue water; to the left, the solitary Ok-Meidan<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117">117</a></span> -and the hundred minarets of Kassim Pasha, and -farther on the huge, indistinct outlines of Stambul; -beyond, fading away into the distant sky, -the blue line of the mountains of Asia; directly -facing us on the opposite shore of the Golden Horn -lay the mysterious quarter of Eyûb, whose gorgeous -mausoleums, marble mosques, deserted streets, and -shady inclines, dotted with tombstones, could be -clearly distinguished from where we sat, rural-looking -solitudes full of a melancholy charm; to the -right of Eyûb lay still other villages covering the -hillsides and peeping at their own reflections in the -water; and then the final bend of the Golden Horn, -lost to view between two lofty banks covered with -trees and flowers.</p> - -<p>Half asleep, exhausted in mind and body, we sat -there, allowing our eyes to wander at will over the -whole exquisite scene; put all we had done and seen -to music, and chanted antiphonally a rigmarole of I -don’t know what nonsense; discussed the history of -the dead man upon whose tomb we were sitting; -poked into an ant-hill with bits of straw; talked of -all manner of foolish and irrelevant things; asked -ourselves from time to time if it were really true -that we were in Constantinople; reflected upon the -shortness of life and vanity of all human desires, at -the same time drawing in deep breaths of pleasure -and delight; but away down in the bottom of our -secret souls we each realized through it all that nothing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118">118</a></span> -on earth, no matter how charming and beautiful -it may be, can quite satisfy a man, provided he does -not while enjoying it feel in his the hand of the -woman he loves.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">In a Kaik.</span></h3> - -<p>Toward sunset we descended to the Golden Horn, -and, taking our places in a four-oared käik, had -scarcely pronounced the word “Galata!” before -the graceful little boat was already in mid-stream. -Of all varieties of boats which skim over the surface -of the water, there is certainly none so delightful as -the käik. Longer than the gondola, but narrower -and lighter, carved, painted, and gilded, it is without -seats or rudder; you sit in the bottom upon a -cushion or bit of carpet, only your head and shoulders -visible above the sides; both ends are shaped -alike, so that it can be propelled in either direction, -and it is easily upset by any sudden movement. -Shooting out from the shore like an arrow -from the bow, it seems to fly like a swallow, -barely touching the water; overtakes and passes -all other craft, and disappears in the distance, its -bright and varied colors reflected in the waves like -a dolphin flying from its pursuer. Our oarsmen -were a couple of good-looking young Turks dressed -in white trousers, light blue shirts, and red fezzes, -with bare arms and legs—a pair of lusty athletes of -twenty or so, bronzed, clean, cheerful, and frank. At<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119">119</a></span> -each stroke the boat bounds forward its whole -length. Other käiks fly by, hardly seen before they -are lost sight of; we pass flocks of ducks; large -covered barges filled with veiled women; clouds of -birds circle over our heads; from time to time the -tall sea-grass shuts out everything from view.</p> - -<p>Seen thus from the other end of the Golden Horn -and at that hour, the city presents an entirely new -aspect. The Asiatic coast, owing to the bend of the -shore, is entirely hidden, Seraglio Point shutting in -the Golden Horn as though it were a great lake. -The hills on either bank seem to have grown larger, -and Stambul, far, far away, is a blending of delicate -blues and grays, huge and indistinct. Like an enchanted -city, it seems to float upon the water and -lose itself among the clouds. The käik flies on; -the two banks recede, inlet after inlet, grove after -grove, suburb after suburb; our surroundings widen -out. The colors of the city grow dim, the horizon -seems to be on fire, the water is full of purple and -gold reflections; on and on, until at last a profound -lethargy steals over us, a sense of boundless content, -in which we remain silent and happy, until finally -the boatman is obliged to call in our ears, “<i>Monsù! -arrivar!</i>” before we can arouse ourselves sufficiently -to know where we are.</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121">121</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="h_121">THE GREAT BAZÂR.</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123">123</a></span> -After giving a superficial glance over all of Constantinople, -including both banks of the Golden -Horn, it seemed now time to penetrate into the heart -of Stambul, to explore that world-embracing, perpetual -fair, that hidden city, dim, mysterious, crammed -with associations, wonders, and treasures, which, extending -from the Nùri Osmaniyeh to the Serasker -hill, is called The Great Bazâr.</p> - -<p>We will start from the square in front of the Validêh -Sultan mosque. Here the epicurean reader -may like possibly to pause long enough to inspect -the Baluk Bazâr, that fish-market famous ever -since the days of thrifty old Andronicus Palæologus, -who, we are told, met the entire culinary expenses -of his court with the profits made from fish caught -only along the walls of the city, where, indeed, they -are still most plentiful, and, seen on one of its principal -days, the Baluk Bazâr would afford as succulent -and tempting a subject for the author of the -<i>Ventre de Paris</i> as one of those well-covered tables -one sees in old Dutch pictures. The venders, almost -without exception Turks, are drawn up all around<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124">124</a></span> -the square behind their fish, which are spread out on -mats stretched upon the ground or else on long -tables, around which a crowd of customers and an -army of dogs fight for precedence. Here may be -found the delicious mullet of the Bosphorus, four -times the size it attains to in our waters; oysters -from the island of Marmora, which the Greeks and -Armenians alone understand how to cook properly, -broiling them on the live coals; sprats and tunnies, -the salting of which is an industry confined almost -entirely to the Jews; anchovies, which the Turks -have learned how to put up in the Marseillaise fashion; -sardines, with which Constantinople provides -the entire Archipelago; the <i>loufer</i>, that most delicious -of all the Bosphorus fish, which is caught by -moonlight; mackerel from the Black Sea, which -make seven invasions successively into the waters -of the city, accompanied by a noise so loud that it -can be heard in the towns on both shores; the -colossal <i>isdaurid</i>; enormous sword-fish; turbots, or, -as they are called by the Turks, <i>kalkau-baluk</i>; shellfish, -and a thousand and one other varieties of the -smaller kinds of fish which dart and frisk about -from one to the other of the two seas, chased by -dolphins and <i>falianos</i>, and preyed upon by innumerable -kingfishers, from whose very mouths the -booty is often snatched by the <i>piombini</i>.</p> - -<p>Cooks from great houses, old Mussulman bons-vivants, -slaves, and young employés from the various<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125">125</a></span> -restaurants surround the tables, examine the fish -with a meditative air, bargain in monosyllables, and -walk off, each carrying his purchase suspended by a -bit of twine, grave, taciturn, self-contained as though -it were the head of an enemy. By mid-day the -square is deserted and the venders have repaired to -the various cafés in the neighborhood, where they -will sit with their backs against the wall and the -mouthpiece of a narghileh between their lips, in a -sort of waking sleep, until sunset.</p> - -<p>To reach the Great Bazâr we take a street opening -out of the fish-market, so narrow that the projecting -parts of the opposite houses almost touch one -another; on either side are rows of low, ill-lighted -tobacconist shops, that “fourth support of the tent -of voluptuousness,” coming after coffee, opium, and -wine, or “the fourth of pleasure’s couches,” as it -is sometimes called. Like coffee, tobacco has been -blasted by imperial edicts and denounced by the -<i>mufti</i>, with the usual result of adding fresh zest to -its use and making it a fruitful source of tumult and -punishment; and now this entire street is devoted -to traffic in it alone. The tobacco is displayed upon -long shelves in pyramids and round piles, each one surmounted -by a lemon. All kinds are to be found here: -<i>latakia</i> from Antioch; Seraglio tobacco as fine and -smooth as spun silk; tobacco for pipe and cigarette -of every grade of strength and flavor, from that -smoked by the gigantic porter of Galata to that used<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126">126</a></span> -by the indolent <i>odalisques</i> of the Seraglio to put them -to sleep. There is the <i>tombeki</i>, so powerful that it -would set the head of even a veteran smoker spinning -did its fumes not reach his mouth first purified -by the water of the narghileh, and which is kept in -glass jars like a drug. The tobacconists are all -Greeks or Armenians, with ceremonious manners, -somewhat inclined to give themselves airs. The -customers assemble before the shops in groups. -Many of them are employés of the various foreign -ambassadors or of the Seraskerat, and occasionally -one sees some personage of importance. It is a -great place for gossip of all kinds; politics are discussed; -the doings of the great world talked over; -and merely to walk through this little, retired, aristocratic -bazâr leaves a strong impression upon one’s -mind of the joys to be obtained from conversation -<i>and</i> tobacco.</p> - -<p>We now pass beneath an old arched doorway -festooned with vines, and come out opposite a large -stone edifice, from which opens a long, straight, -covered street lined with dimly-lighted shops and -filled with people, packing-boxes, and heaps of merchandise. -Entering this, we are immediately assailed -by an odor so powerful as to fairly knock one -down: this is the Egyptian Bazâr, where are deposited -all the wares of India, Syria, Egypt, and -Arabia, which later on, converted into essences, -pastilles, powders, and ointments, serve to color little<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127">127</a></span> -hands and faces, perfume apartments and baths and -breaths and beards, reinvigorate worn-out pashas, -dull the senses of unhappy married people, stupefy -smokers, and spread dreams, oblivion, and insensibility -throughout the whole of the vast city. After -going but a short distance in this bazâr your head -begins to feel dull and heavy, and you get out of it -as fast as you can; but the effect of that hot, close -atmosphere and those penetrating odors clings long -to your clothing, and remains for all time in your -memory as one of the most vivid and characteristic -impressions of the East.</p> - -<p>After escaping from the Egyptian Bazâr you pass -among a crowd of noisy coppersmiths’ shops, Turkish -restaurants, from which issue endless nauseous -smells, and all manner of wretched booths, shops, -and stands, dark little dens containing trash of all -sorts, and finally come to the Great Bazâr itself, not, -however, before you have been obliged to defend -yourself from a vigorous attack.</p> - -<p>About a hundred feet from the main entrance -there lie in ambush like so many cutthroats the -agents or middlemen of the merchants and the -agents of the agents. These fellows are so well up -in their business that at a single glance they learn -not only that this is your first visit to the bazâr, but -usually make so clever a guess as to your nationality -that they rarely make a mistake in the language -which they first address you in.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128">128</a></span> -Approaching, fez in hand, they proceed, with an -engaging smile, to offer their services.</p> - -<p>There usually then follows a conversation something -like this: the traveller, declining the proffered -service, remarks,</p> - -<p>“I do not propose to make any purchases.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, sir, what difference does that make? I only -want to show you the bazâr.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t care to see the bazâr.”</p> - -<p>“But I will escort you gratis.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t wish to be escorted gratis.”</p> - -<p>“Very well; then I will just go to the end of the -street with you, merely to give you certain points, -which you will find very useful some other day when -you come to buy.”</p> - -<p>“But suppose I don’t want to even hear you talk -about buying?”</p> - -<p>“Very well, then, let us talk about something else. -How long have you been in Constantinople? Is your -hotel comfortable? Have you gotten permits to visit -the mosques?”</p> - -<p>“But when I tell you that I don’t want to talk -about anything—that I wish, in short, to be alone—”</p> - -<p>“All right; then I will leave you alone, and follow -a dozen steps behind you.”</p> - -<p>“But why should you follow me at all?”</p> - -<p>“Merely to prevent you from being cheated in the -shops.”</p> - -<p>“But I tell you I am not going into the shops.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129">129</a></span> -“Well, then, to save you from annoyance on the -street.”</p> - -<p>And so you must finally either pause to take -breath and collect your ideas, or else yield and allow -him to accompany you.</p> - -<p>There is nothing about the exterior of the Great -Bazâr to either attract the eye or give the faintest -idea of what it is within. It is an immense stone -edifice in the Byzantine style, irregular in form and -surrounded by high gray walls, lighted by means of -hundreds of small lead-covered domes in the roof. -The principal entrance is through a high, vaulted -doorway of no architectural pretensions. Outside, -in the neighboring streets, no sounds can be heard -of what is going on within, and half a dozen steps -away from the entrance one might easily believe -that only silence and solitude reigned within those -prison-like walls; once inside, however, this delusion -is quickly dispelled. You find yourself not in a -building at all, but in a labyrinth of streets with -vaulted roofs, lined with columns and carved pilasters—a -veritable city, with mosques and fountains, -thoroughfares and open squares, pervaded with the -dim, subdued light of the forest, where no ray or -gleam of sunshine ever penetrates, and thronged -with immense crowds of people. Every street is -a bazâr, generally leading out of the principal -thoroughfare—a street covered by a roof composed -of white and black stone arches and decorated with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130">130</a></span> -arabesques like the nave of a mosque. Processions of -horses, camels, and carriages pass up and down the -dimly-lighted streets, in the midst of the throng of -foot-passengers, with a deafening, reverberating noise. -On all sides attempts are being made by word and -gesture to attract your attention. The Greek merchant -hails you with loud, imperious voice, while his -Armenian rival, by far the greater knave of the two, -assumes a modest, retiring manner, addressing you -in soft, obsequious tones; the Jew murmurs gently -in your ear; while the Turk, silent and reserved as -ever, squats on a cushion in his doorway and contents -himself with addressing you solely with his -eye, leaving the results to Fate. Ten voices appeal -to you at once: “Monsieur! captain! caballero! -signore! eccelenza! kyrie! milor!” Down every -cross-street you catch glimpses of new vistas, long -lines of columns and pilasters, corridors, other streets -opening out of these again, arcades and galleries, -confused far-off views of new bazârs, shops, merchandise -suspended on the walls and from the roofs, -bustling merchants, heavily-laden porters, figures of -veiled women, noisy groups, which constantly form, -dissolve, and form again—a mingling of sights, -sounds, colors, and movement to set one’s head in a -whirl. The confusion, however, is only apparent: -in reality, this enormous mart is arranged with as -much system and order as a barracks, and it takes -but a few hours for one to become sufficiently at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131">131</a></span> -home in it to find his way to any object without difficulty -or the help of a dragoman. Every separate -kind of merchandise has its own especial quarter, -its little street, corridor, and square; there are a -hundred small bazârs opening one into another like -the rooms in some vast suite of apartments, and each -bazâr is at the same time a museum, a promenade, a -market, and a theatre, in which you can look at all -without buying anything, can drink your cup of -coffee, enjoy the open air, chat in a dozen different -languages, and make eyes at the prettiest girls to be -found in the East.</p> - -<div id="if_i_130" class="figcenter" style="width: 470px;"> - <img src="images/i_130.jpg" width="470" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Date Seller.</div></div> - -<p>Dropping at random into any one of these bazârs, -half a day goes by without your so much as knowing -it: take, for instance, the bazâr of stuffs and costumes. -Here are displayed such a dazzling array -of beautiful and rare objects that you at once lose -your head, to say nothing of your purse, and the -chances are that, should you in any unguarded moment -be tempted to satisfy some small caprice, you -will end by having to telegraph home for assistance. -You pass between pyramids and heaps of Bagdad -brocades; rugs from Caramania; Brusa silks; -India linens; muslins from Bengal; shawls from -Madras; Indian and Persian cashmeres: the variegated -fabrics of Cairo; gold-embroidered cushions; -silken veils striped with silver; striped blue and red -gauze scarfs, so light and transparent as to look like -clouds; stuffs of every variety of color and design,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132">132</a></span> -in which blue and green, crimson and yellow, all the -colors which disagree most violently, are combined -and blended together in a harmony so perfect and -exquisite that you can only gaze in open-mouthed -admiration; table-covers of all sizes upon whose -background of red or white cloth are outlined intricate -silken designs of flowers, verses from the -Koran, and imperial monograms, which it would -take a day to examine, like a wall in the Alhambra. -Here one has as good an opportunity to see and admire, -one by one, each of the various articles which -go to make up the costume of a Turkish lady as -though it were the alcove of a harem, from the -green or orange or purple mantles which are thrown -over everything in public down to the silken -chemise, gold-embroidered kerchief, and even the -satin girdle upon which no eye of man other than -that of the husband or eunuch is ever allowed to fall. -Here may be seen red-velvet caftans edged with ermine -and covered with stars; yellow satin bodices; -trousers of rose-colored silk; white damask undervests -thickly covered with gold flowers; wedding -veils sparkling with silver spangles; little greencloth -jackets edged with swan’s down; Greek, Armenian, -Circassian costumes of a thousand fantastic -shapes, so thickly covered with ornamentation as to -be as hard and glittering as breastplates; and mixed -in with all this magnificence the sombre, commonplace, -serviceable stuffs of England and France, producing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133">133</a></span> -much the same effect upon the mind as would the -sight of a tailor’s bill introduced into the pages of a -volume of poems. If there is a woman anywhere -in the world whom you care for, you cannot walk -through this bazâr without longing to be a millionaire -or else feeling the passion for plunder blaze up -within you, if only for a moment.</p> - -<p>To free yourself from these unhallowed desires -you have but turn a little to one side and you find -yourself in the pipe-bazâr, where the soul is gently -conducted back to more tranquil pastures. Here -you come upon collections of cherry, maple, rosewood, -and jessamine pipes, and of yellow amber -mouth-pieces from the Baltic Sea, polished until they -shine like crystal, and of every grade of color and -transparency, some of them set with diamonds or -rubies; pipes from Cæsarea, their stems wrapped -with silk and gold thread; tobacco-pouches from -Lybia decorated with many-colored lozenges and -gorgeous embroidery; silver, steel, and Bohemian -glass narghilehs of exquisite antique shapes, engraved -and chased and studded with precious stones, -their morocco tubes glittering with rings and gilding, -all wrapped in raw cotton and under the constant -surveillance of two glittering eyes whose gaze never -wavers; but let any one short of a vizier or a pasha -who has spent years in bleeding some province of -Asia Minor approach, and the pupils dilate in such a -manner as to cause the modest inquiry as to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134">134</a></span> -price to die away upon one’s lips. Here the purchaser -must be some envoy of the sultana anxious to present -a slight token of her appreciation to the pliable -grand vizier; or a high court dignitary, who on -assuming the cares of his new office is obliged, in -order to maintain his dignity, to expend the sum of -fifty thousand francs upon a rack of pipes; or a -newly-appointed foreign ambassador who on departing -for some European court wishes to take to its -royal master a magnificent memento of Stambul. -The Turk of modest means gazes mournfully upon -these treasures and passes by on the other side, -paraphrasing for his consolation that saying of the -Prophet, “The flames of the infernal regions shall -rage like the bellowing of the camel in the stomach -of him who shall <i>smoke a pipe</i> of gold or silver.”</p> - -<p>Passing from here into the perfumery bazâr, we once -more find ourselves beset with temptations. It is one -of the most distinctively Oriental in character of all the -bazârs, and its wares were very dear to the heart of the -Prophet, who classes together women, children, and -perfumes as the three things which gave him the -greatest pleasure. Here are to be had those famous -Seraglio pastilles designed to perfume kisses; packages -of the scented gum prepared by the hardy -daughters of Chio to be used in strengthening the -gums of delicate Mussulman women; exquisite essence -of jessamine and of bergamont and powerful -attar of roses, enclosed in red-velvet, gold-embroidered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135">135</a></span> -cases, and sold at prices that make one’s hair -stand on end; here can be bought ointment for the -eyebrows, antimony for the eyes, henne for the -nails, soap to soften the Syrian beauty’s skin, and -pills to prevent hair from growing on the face of the -too masculine Circassian; cedar and orange-water, -scent-bags of musk, sandal oil, ambergris, aloes to -perfume cups and pipes—a myriad of different -powders, pomatums, and waters with fanciful names -and destined to uses undreamed of in the prosaic -West, each one representing in itself some amorous -fancy or seductive caprice, the very refinement of -voluptuousness, and exhaling, all together, an odor -at once penetrating and sensual, and dreamily suggestive -of great languid eyes, soft caressing hands, -and the subdued murmur of sighs and embraces.</p> - -<p>These fancies are quickly dispelled on turning into -the jewelry bazâr, a narrow, dark, deserted street, -flanked by wretched-looking little shops, the last -places on earth where one would expect to find the -fabulous treasures which, as a matter of fact, they -do contain. The jewels are kept in oaken coffers, -hooped and bound with iron, which stand in the -front of the shops under the ever-watchful gaze of -the merchant, some old Turk or Hebrew with long -beard, and piercing eyes which seem to penetrate -into the very recesses of your pocket and examine -the contents of your purse; occasionally one or another -of them, standing erect before his door, as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136">136</a></span> -you pass close by first regards you fixedly in the -eye, and then with a rapid movement flashes before -your face a diamond of Golconda, a sapphire from -Ormus, or a ruby of Gramschid, which at the -slightest negative movement on your part is as -quickly withdrawn from sight. Others, circulating -slowly about, stop you in the middle of the street, -and, after casting a suspicious glance all around, -draw forth from their bosoms a dirty bit of rag in -whose folds is hidden a fine Brazilian topaz or -Macedonian turquoise, watching like some tempting -demon to see its effect upon you. Others, again, -after scrutinizing you closely, come to the conclusion -that you have not the precious-stones look, as it -were, and do not trouble themselves to offer you anything, -and you may wear the face of a saint or the -airs of a Crœsus, and it will not avail to open those -oaken boxes. The opal necklaces, emerald stars -and pendants, the coronets and crescents of pearls -of Ophir, the dazzling heaps of beryls, agates, garnets, -of crystals, aventurine, and lapis lazuli remain -inexorably hidden from the eyes of the curious, -provided he has no money, or, at all events, from -those of a poor devil of an Italian writer. The utmost -such an one can accomplish is to ask the price -of a coral or sandal-wood or amber <i>tespi</i> which he -runs through his fingers, as the Turk does, to pass -away the time in the intervals of his forced labors.</p> - -<p>If you want to be really amused, though, just go<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137">137</a></span> -into the Frankish shops, those which deal in everything, -and where there are goods to suit all pockets. -Hardly has your foot crossed the threshold before a -crowd of people spring up from you don’t know -where, and in an instant you are surrounded. It is -out of the question to transact your business with -one single person. What between the merchant -himself, his partners, his agents, and the various -hangers-on of the establishment, you never have to -do with less than a half dozen at least. If you -escape being floored by one, you are, so to speak, -strung up by another. There is no way by which -final defeat can be warded off. Words fail to describe -their patience, art, and persistency, the diabolical -subterfuges to which they resort in order to -force you to buy what they choose. Finding everything -put at an exorbitant price, you offer a third, -upon which they drop their arms in sign of profound -discouragement or beat their foreheads in dumb -despair, or else they burst into an impassioned torrent -of appeal and expostulation calculated to touch -your feelings as a man and a brother. You are hard -and cruel; you are evidently determined to force -them to close their shops; your object is to reduce -them to misery and want; you have no compassion -for their innocent children; they wonder plaintively -what injury they could ever have done you that you -should be so bent upon their ruin. While you are -being told the price of an article an agent from a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138">138</a></span> -neighboring shop hisses in your ear, “Don’t buy it; -you are being cheated.” Taking this for a piece of -honest advice, you soon discover that there is an -understanding between him and the shopkeeper; -the information that you are being imposed upon in -the matter of a shawl is only given in order to fleece -you far worse in the purchase of a hanging. While -you are examining the various articles they talk in -broken sentences among themselves, gesticulating, -striking their breasts, casting looks full of dark -meaning. If you understand Greek, the conversation -is in Turkish; if you are familiar with that, it -is in Armenian; if you show any knowledge of Armenian, -they employ Spanish; but whatever language -is adopted, they know enough of it to cheat -you. If after some time you still preserve an unbroken -front, they begin stroking you down—tell -you how beautifully you talk their tongue; that you -have all the air and manner of a real gentleman; -that they will never be able to forget your attractive -face. They talk of the land of your birth, where -they have passed so many happy years. They -have, in fact, been everywhere. Then they make -you a cup of fresh coffee and offer to accompany you -to the custom-house when you leave in order to interpose -between you and the overbearing authorities; -which means, being interpreted, in order to secure a -final opportunity for cheating you and your fellow-travellers, -in case you may have any. They turn<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139">139</a></span> -their whole shop upside down for you, and should -you finally leave without having bought anything, -you get no black looks, as they have a sustaining -conviction that the harvest is only deferred; if not -to-day, then some other day: you are certain to return -to the bazâr, when their bloodhounds will scent -you out, and should you escape falling into their -clutches, you will undoubtedly be caught in the toils -of one of their associates; if they do not fleece you -as shopkeepers, they will flay you as agents; if -they fail to overreach you in the bazâr, they will -get the better of you at the custom-house. Of what -nationality are these men? No one knows: by dint -of having a smattering of so many different languages -they have lost their original accent, and the -constant habit of acting a part has ended by altering -the natural lines of their faces to such a degree as -to efface their national traits. They belong to any -race you choose, and their profession is whatever -you may have need of at the moment—shopkeeper, -guide, interpreter, money-lender, and, above all, -past master in the art of gulling the universe.</p> - -<p>The Mussulman shopkeepers present an altogether -different field of observation. Among them may still -be found examples of those venerable Turks, rarely -enough to be seen now-a-days in the streets of Constantinople, -who look like living representatives of the -days of the Muhammads and Bayezids, remnants left -intact of that mighty Ottoman edifice whose walls<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140">140</a></span> -received their first rude shock in the reforms of Mahmûd, -and which since then, year by year, stone -by stone, have been crumbling into ruins. One -must now go to the Great Bazâr and search in the -dimmest shops of the most obscure streets to behold -those enormous turbans of the time of Suleiman, -shaped like the dome of a mosque, and beneath them -the impressive face, the expressionless eye, hooked -nose, long white beard, antique purple or orange -caftan, full, plaited trousers confined about the waist -by a huge sash, and the haughty and melancholy -bearing of a once all-powerful people. With expressions -dulled by opium or lighted up with the fire of -fanaticism, they sit all day in the backs of their dens -with crossed legs and folded arms, calm and unmoved -like idols, awaiting with closed lips the predestined -purchaser. If business is brisk, they murmur, -“<i>Mach Allah!</i>” (God be praised!); if dull, “<i>Ol-sun!</i>” -(So be it!), and bow their heads resignedly. -Some employ their time in reading the Koran; others -run the beads of the <i>tespi</i> through their fingers, murmuring -under their breath the hundred epithets of -Allah; others, whose affairs have prospered, <i>drink -their narghilehs</i>, as the Turks express it, slowly revolving -around them their sleepy, voluptuous-looking -eyes; others sit with drooping lids and bent brow in -an attitude of profound meditation. Of what are -they thinking? Possibly of their sons killed beneath -the walls of Sebastopol, of their far-off caravans,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141">141</a></span> -of the lost pleasures of youth, or possibly of -the eternal gardens promised by the Prophet, where, -in the shade of the palm and the pomegranate, they -will espouse those dark-eyed brides never yet profaned -by mortal or geni. There is about each individual -one of them something striking and original, -and all are picturesque. The shop forms a framework -for a picture full of color and suggestion; -one’s mind is instantly filled with images taken from -history or what is known of the domestic life of this -strange people. This spare, bronzed man with a -bold, alert expression is an Arab; he has led his -train of camels laden with gems and alabaster from -the interior of his far-off country, and more than -once has felt the balls of the robbers of the desert -whiz past him. This one in the yellow turban, bearing -himself with an air of command, has crossed the -solitudes of Syria on horseback, carrying with him -treasures of silk from Tyre and Sidon. Yonder -negro, with his head enveloped in an old Persian -shawl, is from Nubia; his forehead is covered with -scars made by magicians to preserve him from death, -and he holds his head aloft as though still beholding -before him the Colossus of Thebes or summits of -the Pyramids. This good-looking Moor, with his -black eyes and pallid skin, wrapped in a long snow-white -cloak, has carried his <i>caic</i> and his carpets from -the uttermost western limits of the Atlas chain. -That green-turbaned Turk, with the emaciated face,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142">142</a></span> -has this very year returned from the great pilgrimage. -After seeing relatives and companions die of -thirst amid the interminable plains of Asia Minor, -he finally reached Mecca in the last stages of exhaustion, -and, after dragging himself seven times -around the <i>Kaaba</i>, finally fell half swooning upon -the Black Stone, covering it with impassioned -kisses. This giant with a pale face, arched brows, -and piercing eyes, who has far more the air of a -warrior than of a merchant, his entire bearing breathing -nothing but pride and arrogance, has brought his -furs hither from the northern regions of the Caucasus, -and in his day struck at a blow the head from -off the shoulders of more than one Cossack. And -this poor wool-merchant, with his flat face and small -oblique eyes, active and sinewy as an athlete, it is -not so long since he was saying his prayers in the -shadow of that immense dome which rises above the -sepulchre of Tamerlane. Starting from Samarcand, -he crossed the desert of Great Bûkharia, and, passing -safely through the midst of the Turkoman hordes, -crossed the Dead Sea, escaped the balls of the Circassians, -and, after returning thanks to Allah in -the mosques of Trebizond, has at last come to seek -his fortune in Stambul, from whence, as he grows -old, he will surely return once more to his beloved -Tartary, which always claims the first place in his -heart.</p> - -<p>The shoe bazâr is one of the most resplendent of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143">143</a></span> -all, and possibly fills the brain more than any other -with wild longings and riotous desires. It consists -of two glittering rows of shops, which make the -street in which it is situated look like a suite of -royal apartments or like one of those gardens in the -Arabian fairy-stories where the fruit trees are laden -with pearls and have golden leaves. There are -shoes enough there to supply the feet of every court -in Europe and Asia. The walls are completely covered -with slippers of the sauciest shapes and most -striking and fanciful colors, made out of skins, velvet, -brocade, and satin, ornamented with filigree-work, -gold, tinsel, pearls, silken tassels, swan’s down; -flowered and starred in gold and silver; so thickly -covered with intricate embroidery as to completely -hide the original texture; and glittering with emeralds -and sapphires. You can buy shoes there for -the boatman’s bride or for the Seraglio belle; you -may pay five francs a pair or a thousand. There -are morocco shoes destined to walk the paved streets -of Pera, and beside them Turkish slippers which -will one day glide over the thick carpets of some -pasha’s harem; light wooden shoes which will resound -on the marbles of the imperial baths; tiny -slippers of white satin on which ardent lovers’ kisses -will be showered; and it may well be that yonder -pair encrusted with pearls will some day stand beside -the couch of the Padishâh himself, awaiting the -pretty feet of some beautiful Georgian. But how,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144">144</a></span> -you ask yourself, is it possible for any feet to get -into such tiny little receptacles? Some of them -seem intended to fit the houris and fairies—long -as the leaf of a lily, wide as the leaf of a rose, -of such dimensions as to throw all Andalusia into -despair; graceful as a dream—not slippers at all, -but jewels, toys, objects to stand on one’s table full -of bonbons or to keep billetsdoux in. Once allow -your imagination to dwell upon the foot which could -wear them, and you are seized with an insane desire -to behold it yourself, to stroke and caress it like some -pretty plaything. This bazâr is one of those most -frequented by strangers: it is not unusual to encounter -young Europeans wandering about with slips of -paper in their hands upon which are inscribed the -measurements of some small French or Italian foot, -of which they are possibly quite proud, and it is -amusing to see their faces fall and the look of incredulous -astonishment which follows the discovery that -some slipper which has attracted their fancy is far -too small; while others, having asked the price of a -pair they had thought of buying, receive so overwhelming -a reply that they make off without a word. -Here, too, may sometimes be seen Mussulman ladies -(<i>hanum</i>) with long white veils, and one can often -catch, in passing, fragments of their lengthy dialogues -with the shopkeepers, brief sentences of that -beautiful language, uttered in sweet, clear tones, -which fall upon the ear like the notes of a mandolin:<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145">145</a></span> -“<i>Buni catscia verersin!</i>” (How much is this?) -“<i>Pahalli dir</i>” (It is too high). “<i>Ziade veremem</i>” -(I won’t pay any more). And then a childish, ringing -laugh, which makes you feel like patting them -on the head or pinching their cheeks.</p> - -<p>But the richest and most picturesque of all is the -armory bazâr. It is more like a museum, really, -than a bazâr, overflowing with treasures and filled -with objects which at once transport the imagination -into the realms of history and legend. Every sort -and shape of weapon is there, fantastic, horrible, -cruel-looking, which has ever been brandished in -defence of Islamism from Mecca to the Danube, -polished and set out in warlike array, as though but -now laid down by the fanatical soldiery of Muhammad -and Selim. You seem to see the glittering eyes -of those formidable sultans, those savage Janissaries, -those <i>spahis</i> and <i>azabs</i>, drunk with blood, amid the -gleaming blades—those <i>silidars</i>, to whom pity and -fear were alike unknown, and who strewed Europe -and Asia Minor with severed heads and stiffened -corpses. Here are displayed those renowned cimeters -capable of cutting through a floating feather -or striking off the ears of audacious ambassadors; -those heavy Turkish daggers which cleaved downward -at a blow from the skull to the very heart; -mighty clubs which crashed through Servian and -Hungarian helmets; <i>yataghans</i>, their handles inlaid -with ivory and encrusted with amethysts and rubies,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146">146</a></span> -and on their blades the engraved record of the number -of heads they have cut off; poniards with silver, -velvet, or satin sheaths and agate or ivory handles -set with coral, turquoise, and garnets, inscribed in -golden lettering with verses from the Koran, their -blades curved backward as though feeling for a -heart. Who can tell whether amid all this strange -and terrible array there may not be the cimeter of -Orcano or the sabre with which the powerful arm -of the warrior-dervish Abd-el-Murad struck off the -heads of his enemies at a single blow; or that famous -yataghan with which Sultan Moussa clove asunder -the body of Hassan from shoulder to heart; or -the huge cimeter of the Bulgarian giant who set the -first ladder in place against the walls of Constantinople; -or the club with which Muhammad II. felled -his rapacious soldiers beneath the roof of St. Sophia; -or the mighty Damascus sabre with which -Scanderbeg cut down Firuzi Pasha beneath the walls -of Stetigrad? All the most horrible massacres and -blood-curdling murders of Ottoman history, revolts -of the Janissaries, and black deeds of treachery -come crowding into one’s mind at the mere sight of -these terrific weapons, and one fancies that bloodstains -can be detected upon the gleaming blades, -and that those old Turks lurking in the dim recesses -of their shops have gathered them from the -field of battle—yes, and the bodies of their owners -as well—and that even now their shattered skeletons<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147">147</a></span> -are occupying some obscure corner close at hand. -In among the arms are great blue and scarlet velvet -saddles, worked with gold stars and crescents -and embroidered in pearls, with plumed frontals and -chased silver bits; saddle-cloths magnificent as royal -mantles; trappings which remind one of the <i>Thousand -and One Nights</i>, seemingly intended for the use -of a king of the genii making his triumphal entry -into a golden city in the land of dreams. Suspended -on the walls above all these treasures are antique -firelock muskets, clumsy Albanian pistols, long Arabian -guns worked and chased like pieces of jewelry; -ancient shields made out of bark, tortoise-shell, -or hippopotamus skin; Circassian armor, Cossack -shields, Mongolian head-pieces, Turkish bows, executioners’ -axes, great blades of uncouth shape and full -of horrible suggestions, each one of which seems to -bear witness to a crime committed, and brings before -one frightful visions of death-agonies.</p> - -<p>Seated cross-legged in the midst of all these objects -of magnificence and horror are the merchants -who, of all those to be found in the Great Bazâr, -present the most striking and distinctive examples -of the true Mussulman. They are, for the most -part, old, of forbidding aspect, lean as anchorites, -haughty as sultans, belonging apparently to another -age and wearing the dress of a bygone era: it -would seem as though they had arisen from the dead -for the purpose of recalling their degenerate descendants<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148">148</a></span> -to the forgotten austerities of their ancient -race.</p> - -<p>Another spot well worth seeing is the old-clothes -bazâr. Rembrandt would simply have taken up -his abode here, and Goya have expended his last -<i>peseta</i>. Any one who has never been in an Oriental -second-hand shop can form no idea of the variety -and richness of the rags, pomp of color, and irony -of contrast to be found in them—a sight at once -fantastic, melancholy, and repellent. They are a -sort of rag-sewer, in which the refuse of harem, -barrack, court, and theatre await together the moment -when some artist’s caprice or beggar’s necessity -shall once more call them forth into the light of -day. From long poles fastened to the walls depend -antique Turkish uniforms, swallow-tailed coats, fine -gentlemen’s cloaks, dervishes’ tunics, Bedouins’ -mantles, all greasy, torn, and faded, looking as -though they had been taken by force from their -former owners, and strongly resembling the booty -found on footpads and assassins which may be seen -on exhibition in the Court of Assizes. In among -all these rags and tatters one catches the glitter of -an occasional bit of gold embroidery; old silk scarfs -and turbans, all unwrapped, dangle to and fro; a -rich shawl with ragged edges; a velvet corsage looking -as though some rude hand had torn off its trimming -of pearls and fur; slippers and veils which may -once have belonged to some beautiful sinner, whose<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149">149</a></span> -body, sewn up in a bag, now sleeps quietly enough -beneath the rippling waters of the Bosphorus;—these -and countless other feminine garments and -adornments, of all manner of charming shapes and -colors, hang imprisoned between rough Circassian -caftans, long black Jewish capes, rusty cartridge-boxes, -heavy cloaks and coarse tunics beneath -whose folds who knows how often the bandit’s musket -or dagger of the assassin may have been hidden? -On toward evening, when the subdued light from the -roof above becomes still more uncertain, all these -garments, as they sway back and forth in the wind, -assume the look and air of human bodies strung up -there by some murderer’s hand, and just then, as your -eye catches the sinister glance of one of those old -Jews seated watchfully in the rear of his gloomy -den of a shop, you cannot avoid fancying that the -skinny claw with which he scratches his forehead -can be no other than the one which tightened the -rope—a soothing idea which causes you to glance -involuntarily over your shoulder to see if the entrance -to the bazâr is still open.</p> - -<p>One day of wandering here and there will not -suffice if you really wish to see every part of this -strange city. There is the fez bazâr, in which are -to be found fezzes of every country in the world, -from that of Morocco to the Vienna fez, ornamented -with inscriptions from the Koran, which serve to -ward off evil spirits; the fez which is worn perched<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150">150</a></span> -on the tops of their heads by the pretty Greek girls -of Smyrna, surmounting their coils of black hair -intertwined with coins; the little red fez of the -Turkish women; soldiers’, generals’, sultans’, dandies’ -fezzes, of all shades of red and every style, from -the primitive ones worn in the days of Orcano to the -large and elegant fez of Mahmûd, emblem of reform -and an abomination in the eyes of Mussulmans of the -old school.</p> - -<p>Then there is the fur bazâr, where may be seen -the sacred fur of the black wolf, which at one time -none but the Sultan himself and his grand vizier -were allowed to wear; the marten, used to trim state -caftans; skins of white and black bears; astrakhan, -ermine, blue wolf, and rich sable skins, upon which -in old times the sultans would expend fabulous sums -of money.</p> - -<p>Then the cutlery bazâr is worth a visit, if only to -examine those huge Turkish shears whose bronzed -and gilded blades, adorned with fantastic designs of -birds and flowers, open with a murderous sweep -wide enough to swallow up entirely the head of an -unfavorable critic.</p> - -<p>There are the gold-thread embroidery, china, -household utensils, and tailors’ bazârs, all differing -from one another in size, shape, and character, but -all in one respect alike, that in none of them do you -ever see a woman either attending to the customers -or working apart. At the very most, it may occasionally<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151">151</a></span> -happen that a Greek woman, seated for a -moment in front of some tailor’s shop, will timidly -offer to sell you a handkerchief she has just finished -embroidering. Oriental jealousy forbids shopkeeping -to the fair sex, as offering too wide a field for -coquetry and intrigue.</p> - -<p>In other parts of the Great Bazâr it is as well for -a stranger not to venture unless he is accompanied -by a dragoman or one of the shopkeepers. Those -are the interior parts of the various districts into -which this strange city is divided—the islands, as it -were, about which wind and twist the rapid currents -of streets and byways. If it is a difficult matter to -keep from losing your way among the main thoroughfares, -in here it is quite impossible. From -passage-ways scarcely wider than a man’s shoulders, -where it is necessary to stoop to avoid striking -your head, you come out upon tiny courtyards encumbered -with bales and boxes, where hardly so -much as a single ray of light can penetrate. Feeling -your way down flights of wooden steps, you -come to other courts lighted only by lanterns, from -which you descend below ground, or, climbing up -again into what passes for the light of day, stumble -with bent head through long, winding corridors, beneath -damp roofs and between black and moss-grown -walls, to come at last upon some small hidden -doorway, and suddenly find yourself exactly where -you started. Everywhere shadowy forms are seen<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152">152</a></span> -coming and going; dusky shapes stand immovable in -dark corners, outlines of persons handling merchandise -or counting money; lights which flash ahead of -you at one moment, and the next, disappear; a -sound of hurrying footsteps, of low, eager voices, -coming from you don’t know where; reflections -thrown from unseen lights; suspicious encounters; -strange odors like those one might expect to escape -from a witch’s cave; and apparently no possible -means of escape from it all. The dragoman is very -apt to conduct his victim through these quarters on -his way to those shops, usually somewhat apart, -which contain a little of everything, like Great Bazârs -in miniature or a superior sort of second-hand -shop, extremely curious and interesting, but -extremely perilous as well, since they contain such -a variety of rare and attractive objects as to woo the -money out of the pocket of the veriest miser. The -shopkeepers here are great solemn knaves, thoroughly -well versed in every art appertaining to their -business, and, polyglot like their brothers of the -trade, have a certain dramatic power which they -employ in the most entertaining manner to tempt -people to buy, sometimes rising to the level of genuinely -good acting. Their shops usually consist of -dark little holes cluttered up with boxes and chests -of drawers, where lights have to be lit in order to -see anything, and there is barely enough space to -turn around in. After displaying a few trifles inlaid<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153">153</a></span> -with ivory and mother-of-pearl, some bits of Chinese -porcelain, a Japanese vase or two, and some other -things of the same sort, the shopkeeper informs you -with an impressive air that he sees what sort of person -you are, and will now bring out something especially -suited to you. He then proceeds to pull out -a certain drawer, whose contents he empties upon -the table. There are all manner of knick-knacks -and gewgaws—a peacock-feather fan, a bracelet -made of old Turkish coins, a little leather cushion -with the Sultan’s monogram embroidered upon it in -gold, a Persian hand-glass painted with a scene from -the <i>Book of Paradise</i>, one of those tortoise-shell -spoons with which Turks eat cherry compôte, an -ancient decoration of the Order of Osmanieh. You -don’t care for any of these, either? Very well. He -turns out the contents of another, and this is a -drawer which, as a matter of fact, was being reserved -for your eye alone. There is a broken elephant’s -tusk; a Trebizond bracelet, looking as -though it had been made from a lock of silver hair; -a Japanese idol; a sandal-wood comb from Mecca; -a large Turkish spoon, chased and filigreed; an antique -silver narghileh, gilded and inscribed; bits of -mosaic from St. Sophia; a heron’s feather, which -once ornamented the turban of Selim III.: for the -truth of this last statement the merchant, as a man -of honor, is willing to vouch. And still there is -nothing which suits your fancy? Here, then, is another<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154">154</a></span> -drawer, crammed full of treasures—an ostrich -egg from Sahara; a Persian inkstand; a chased -ring; a Mingrelian bow, with its quiver made out of -an elk’s skin; a Circassian two-pointed head-piece; -a jasper rosary; a smelling-bottle of beaten gold; -a Turkish talisman; a camel-driver’s knife; a box -of <i>attar-gul</i>. In Heaven’s name, is there still nothing -that tempts you? Have you no presents to -make? no beloved relatives? no dear friends? -Perhaps, though, your tastes run to stuffs and carpets. -Well, here too he can assist you as a friend. -“Behold, milor, this striped Kurdistan mantle, this -lion skin; yonder rug is from Aleppo, with its little -steel fastenings, while this <i>Casablanca</i> carpet, three -fingers thick, is guaranteed to last for four generations; -here, Your Excellency, are old cushions, old -brocade scarfs, old silken coverlids, a little faded, a -little frayed out at the edges, it is true, but such -embroidery as you could not get in these days, even -if you were to offer a fortune. You, <i>caballero</i>, have -been brought here by a friend of mine, and for that -reason I am going to let you have this ancient sash -for the sum of five napoleons, and live myself on -bread and garlic for one week in order to make up -the loss.” Should even this magnificent offer fail to -move you, he whispers in your ear that he has in -his possession, and is moreover willing to sell, the -very rope with which the terrible Seraglio mutes -strangled Nassuh Pasha, Muhammad Third’s grand<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155">155</a></span> -vizier. And if you laugh in his face and decline to -swallow it, he gives it up at once like a sensible -man, and proceeds to make his final effort, displaying -before you, in rapid succession, a horse’s tail -such as were once carried before and after every -pasha; a janissary’s helmet, spattered with blood, -which his own father picked up on the day of the -famous massacre; a scrap of one of the flags carried in -the Crimea, showing the silver star and crescent; a -wash-basin studded with agates; a brazier of beaten -copper; a dromedary-collar with its shells and bells; -a eunuch’s whip made of hippopotamus leather; a -gold-bound Koran; a Khorassan scarf; a pair of slippers -from a kadyn’s wardrobe; a candlestick made -from the claw of an eagle,—until at length your -imagination is fired. The longing to possess breaks -forth, and you are seized with a mad impulse to -throw down your purse, watch, overcoat, everything -you have, and fill your pockets with booty. One -must indeed be an uncommonly well-balanced person, -a very mountain of wisdom, to be able to withstand -the temptations of this place, whence many an -artist has come forth as poor as Job, and where more -than one rich man has thrown away his fortune.</p> - -<p>But before the Great Bazâr closes let us take a -turn around to see how it looks at the end of the -day. The crowd moves along more hurriedly; shopkeepers -call out to you and gesticulate more imperiously -than ever; Greeks and Armenians run through<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156">156</a></span> -the streets calling aloud, with shawls or rugs hung -over their arms, or form into groups, bargaining and -discussing as they move about, then break up and -form again into other groups farther off; horses, carriages, -beasts of burden, all moving in the direction -of the gateway, pass by in endless files. At this -hour all those tradespeople with whom you have had -fruitless negotiations during the day start to life -again, circling around you in the dusk like so many -bats: you see them peeping out from behind columns; -come suddenly upon them at every turn; they cross -in front of you or pass close by you gazing abstractedly -in the air, to remind you by their presence -of that certain rug or that bit of jewelry, -and, if possible, reawaken your desire to possess it. -Sometimes you are followed by a whole troop of -them at once: if you stop, they do the same; if you -slip down a side street, you find them there before -you; turning suddenly, you are aware of a dozen -sharp eyes fixed upon you which seem to fairly -devour you whole. But already the fading light -warns the crowd to disperse. Beneath the vaulted -roof can be heard the voice of an invisible muezzin -announcing the sunset from some wooden minaret. -Some Turks have spread strips of carpet in the -street before their shop-doors and are murmuring -the evening prayer; others perform their ablutions -at the fountains. The centenarians of the armor -bazâr have already shut to their great iron doors;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157">157</a></span> -the smaller bazârs are empty; the farther ends of -the corridors are lost in shadow, and the openings of -the side streets look like the mouths of caves. Camels -suddenly loom up close to you in the uncertain -light; the voices of the water-carriers echo distantly -among the arched roofs; the Turk quickens his step -and the eunuch’s eyes grow more alert; strangers -are seen hurrying away; the entrance is closed; the -day ended.</p> - -<p>And now on all sides I can hear the questions: -What about St. Sophia? and the old Seraglio? and -the Sultan’s palaces? and the Castle of the Seven -Towers? and Abdul-Aziz? and the Bosphorus. All -in good time: each one of them shall be fully described -in turn, but for still a little while longer let -us wander here and there about the city, touching at -every page upon some new theme just as some new -idea strikes our fancy at every step.</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159">159</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="h_159">LIFE IN CONSTANTINOPLE.</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161">161</a></span></p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Light.</span></h3> - -<div id="if_i_160" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_160.jpg" width="600" height="407" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">View of Stamboul. Mosque of Validêh and Bridge.</div></div> - -<p>And first of all I must speak of the light. One -of my chief pleasures at Constantinople was to -watch the sun rise and set from the bridge of the -Validéh Sultan. At daybreak in the autumn there -is almost always a light fog hanging over the Golden -Horn, through which the city can only be seen indistinctly, -as though one were looking through those -thin gauze curtains which are lowered across the -stage of a theatre in order to hide the details of some -grand spectacular effect. Skutari is quite invisible; -only her hills, a vague outline, can be faintly traced -against the eastern sky. The bridge, as well as -both banks, is deserted. Constantinople is buried in -slumber, and the profound silence and solitude lend -solemnity and impressiveness to the scene. Presently -behind the Skutari hills the sky begins to -show streaks of gold, and, one by one, against that -luminous background, the inky points of the cypress -trees stand out clear and defined, like a company of -giants drawn up in battle-array on the heights of her -vast cemetery. Now a single ray of light flashes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162">162</a></span> -from one end to the other of the Golden Horn, like -the first faint sigh of returning consciousness, as the -great city stirs and slowly awakens once more to -life. Then, behind the cypresses on the Asiatic shore, -a fiery eye shines forth, and immediately upon the -white summits of St. Sophia’s four minarets an answering -blush is seen. In rapid succession from hill -to hill, from mosque to mosque, to the farthest end -of the Golden Horn, every minaret turns to rose, -every dome to silver. The crimson flush creeps -down from one terrace to another; the light increases, -the veil is lifted, and all of Stambul lies revealed, -rosy and resplendent on the heights, tinged -with blue and violet shadows on the water’s edge, -but everywhere fresh and sparkling as though just -risen from the waves. In proportion as the sun -rises higher and higher the delicacy of the first -coloring disappears, swallowed up in the flood of -dazzling light, which becomes so white and blinding -as in turn to slightly obscure everything, until -toward evening, when the glorious spectacle recommences. -So clear does the atmosphere then become -that from Galata you can easily distinguish each -separate tree on the farthermost point of Kadi-keui. -The huge profile of Stambul is thrown out against -the sky with such distinctness and accuracy of detail -that it would be quite possible to note one by -one every minaret, every spire and cypress tree, -that crowns her heights from Seraglio Point to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163">163</a></span> -cemetery of Eyûb. The waters of the Bosphorus -and Golden Horn turn to a marvellous ultramarine; -the sky, of the color of amethysts in the east, grows -fiery as it reaches Stambul, lighting up the horizon -with a hundred tints of crimson and gold, making -one think of the first day of creation. Stambul -grows dim, Galata golden, while Skutari, receiving -the full blaze of the setting sun upon her thousand -casements, looks like a city devoured by flames. -And this is the most perfect moment in all the -twenty-four hours in which to see Constantinople. -It is a rapid succession of the most exquisite tints—pale -gold, rose, and lilac—mingling and blending one -with another on the hillsides and water’s surface, -lending to first one part of the city and then to -another the finishing touch to its perfect beauty, and -revealing a thousand modest charms of hill- and -country-side, which were too shy to thrust themselves -into notice beneath the blaze of the noonday -sun. It is then that you see the great melancholy suburbs -losing themselves amid the shadows of the valleys—little -purple-tinted hamlets smiling on the hilltops; -towns and villages which languish and droop -as though their life were ebbing away; others disappear -from view, as you look at them, like fires which -have been suddenly extinguished; others, again, -apparently quite dead, come unexpectedly to life -again, all aglow, and sparkle joyously for still some -moments longer in the last rays of the sun. Finally,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164">164</a></span> -however, nothing remains but two shining summits -on the Asiatic shore—Mt. Bûlgurlù and the point -of the cape which guards the entrance to the Propontis. -At first they are two golden coronets, then -two little crimson caps, then two rubies; and then -Constantinople is plunged in shadow, while ten -thousand voices from ten thousand minarets announce -that the sun has set.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Birds.</span></h3> - -<p>Constantinople possesses a grace and gayety all -her own emanating from her myriads of birds of -every species, objects of especial veneration and -affection among the Turks. Mosque and grove, -ancient wall and garden, palace and courtyard, are -full of song, of the cheerful sound of twittering and -chirping; everywhere there is the rush of wings, -everywhere the busy, active little lives go on. Sparrows -come boldly into the houses and eat from the -women’s and children’s hands; swallows build their -nests over the doorways of cafés and beneath the -roofs of bazârs; innumerable flocks of pigeons, -maintained by means of legacies from different sultans -as well as private individuals, form black and -white garlands around the cornices of the domes and -terraces of the minarets; gulls circle joyously about -the granaries; thousands of turtle-doves bill and coo -among the cypress trees in the cemeteries; all -around the Castle of the Seven Towers ravens croak<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165">165</a></span> -and vultures hover significantly; kingfishers come -and go in long lines between the Black Sea and Sea -of Marmora; while storks may be seen resting upon -the domes of solitary mausoleums. For the Turk -each one of these birds possesses some pleasing -quality or lucky influence. The turtle-dove is the -patron of lovers; the swallow will protect from fire -any building where her nest is built; the stork performs -a yearly pilgrimage to Mecca; while the -halcyon carries the souls of the faithful to Paradise. -Hence they feed and protect them both from religious -motives and from gratitude, and in return the -birds make a continual festival around their houses, -on the water, and among the tombs. In every -quarter of Stambul they soar and circle about, -grazing against you in their noisy flights, and filling -the entire city with something of the joyous freedom -of the open country, constantly bringing up before -one’s mind images of nature.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Associations.</span></h3> - -<p>In no other city of Europe do the sites and monuments, -either legendary or historical, act so forcibly -upon the imagination as at Stambul, because in no -other spot do they record events at once so recent -and so picturesque. Elsewhere, in order to get -away from the prose of modern every-day life, one -is obliged to go back for several centuries; at Stambul -a few years suffice. Legend, or what has all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166">166</a></span> -the character and force of legend, dates from yesterday. -It is not many years since, in the square of -Et-Meidan, the celebrated massacre of the Janissaries -took place; not many years since the waters -of the Sea of Marmora cast up upon the banks of -the imperial gardens those twenty sacks containing -each the body of a beauty of Mustafa’s harem; not -long since Brancovano’s family was executed in the -Castle of the Seven Towers, or European ambassadors -were pinioned between two <i>kapuji-basci</i> in the -presence of the Grand Seigneur, upon whose half-averted -countenance there glowed a mysterious -light; or within the walls of the old Seraglio that life—so -extraordinary—a mingling of horrors, love, and -folly, ceased finally to exist, which now seems to -belong to such a far-distant past. Wandering about -the streets of Stambul and reflecting upon all these -things, you cannot help a feeling of astonishment at -the calm, cheerful aspect of the city, gay with color -and vegetation. “Ah, traitoress!” you cry, “what -have you done with all those mountains of heads, -those lakes of blood? How is it possible that everything -has been so cleverly concealed, so wiped out -and obliterated, that not a trace remains?”</p> - -<p>On the Bosphorus, beneath the Seraglio walls and -just opposite Leander’s Tower, which rises from the -water like a lover’s monument, you may still behold -the inclined plane down which the bodies of the unfaithful -beauties of the harem were rolled into the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167">167</a></span> -sea; in the middle of the Et-Meidan the serpentine -column still bears witness to the force of Muhammad -the Conqueror’s famous sabre; on the Mahmûd -bridge the spot is still pointed out on which the -fiery sultan annihilated at a single blow the adventurous -dervish who had dared to fling an anathema -in his face; in the Holy Well of the Balukli church -the miraculous fish still swim about which foretold the -fall of the City of the Palæologi; beneath the trees of -the Sweet Waters of Asia you can visit those shady -retreats where a dissolute sultana was wont to bestow -upon the favorite of the hour that fatal love whose -certain sequence was death. Every doorway, every -tower, every mosque and park and open square, records -some strange event—a tragedy, a love-story, -a mystery, the absolutism of a padishah or the reckless -caprice of a sultana; everything has a history -of its own, and wherever you turn the near-by objects, -the distant view, the balmy perfumed air, the -silence, all unite to transport him whose mind is -stored with these histories of the past out of himself, -his era, and the city of to-day, so that not infrequently, -when suddenly confronted with the suggestion -that it is high time to think of returning to -the hotel, he asks himself confusedly what it means, -how can there be a “hotel.”</p> - -<div id="if_i_166" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_166.jpg" width="600" height="453" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Serpentine Column of Delphi.</div></div> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Resemblances.</span></h3> - -<p>In those early days, fresh from reading masses of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168">168</a></span> -Oriental literature, I kept recognizing in the people -I met on the streets famous personages who figure in -the legends and history of the East: sometimes they -answered so entirely to the picture I had drawn in -my own mind of some celebrated character that I -would find myself stopping short in the street to -gaze after them. How often have I seized my -friend’s arm, and, pointing out some passer-by, exclaimed, -“There he goes, by Jove! Don’t you recognize -him?” In the square of the Sultan Validéh -I have many a time seen the gigantic Turk who -hurled down rocks and stones upon the heads of -Baglione’s soldiers before the walls of Nicea; near -one of the mosques I came across Unm Dgiemil, the -old witch of Mecca who sowed thorns and brambles -in front of Mohammed’s house; coming out of the -book bazâr one day, I ran against Digiemal-eddin, -the great scholar of Brusa, who knew all the Arabian -dictionary by heart, walking along with a volume -tucked under his arm; I have passed close enough -to Ayesha, the favorite wife of the Prophet, to receive -a steady look from those eyes “like twin stars -reflected in a well.” I recognized in the Et-Meidan -the beautiful and unfortunate Greek killed at the -foot of the serpentine column by a ball from the -huge guns of Orban; turning a sharp corner of one -of the narrow streets of Phanar, I found myself -suddenly face to face with Kara-Abderrahman, the -handsomest young Turk of the days of Orkhan; I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169">169</a></span> -have seen Coswa, Mohammed’s she-camel, and recognized -Kara-bidut, Selim’s black charger; I have -encountered poor Fighani, the poet, who was condemned -to go about Stambul harnessed to an ass for -having made Ibrahim’s grand vizier the subject of -a lampoon; I saw in one of the cafés the unwieldy -form of Soliman, the fat admiral, whom the united -efforts of four powerful slaves could with difficulty -drag up from his divan; and Ali, the grand vizier, -who failed to find throughout all Arabia a horse fit -to carry him; and Mahmûd Pasha, that ferocious -Hercules who strangled Suleiman’s son; and, established -before the entrance of the copyists’ bazâr -near the Bayezid square, that stupid Ahmed II., -who would say nothing all day but “<i>Kosc! -kosc!</i>” (Very well! very well!) Every character -in the <i>Thousand and One Nights</i>—the Aladdins, the -Zobeids, the Sinbads, the Gulnars, the old Jew -dealers with their magic lamps and their enchanted -carpets for sale—passed before me one after another -like a procession of so many phantoms.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Costumes.</span></h3> - -<p>This is perhaps the very best period in which -to study the dress of the Mussulman population of -Constantinople. In the last generation, as will -probably be the case in the next, it presented too -uniform an appearance. You find it in a sort of -transition stage, and presenting, consequently, a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170">170</a></span> -wonderful variety of form and color. The steady -advance of the reform party, the resistance of the -conservative Turks, the uncertainty and vacillation -of the great mass of the people, hesitating between -the two extremes—every aspect, in short, of the -conflict which is being waged between ancient and -modern Turkey—is faithfully reflected in the dress -of her people. The old-fashioned Turk still wears his -turban, his caftan and sash, and the traditional yellow -morocco slippers, and, if he is one of the more -strict and precise kind, a veritable Turk of the old -school, the turban will be of vast proportions. The -reformed Turk wears a long black coat buttoned -close up under the chin, and dark shoes and trousers, -preserving nothing Turkish in his costume but the -fez. Some among the younger and bolder spirits -have even gone farther, and, discarding the black -frock-coat, substitute for it an open cut-away, light -trousers, fancy cravat and jewelry, and carry a cane, -and a flower in the buttonhole. Between these and -those, the wearers of the caftan and the wearers of the -coat, there is a deep gulf fixed. They no longer have -anything in common but the name of Turk, and are in -reality two separate nations. He of the turban still -believes implicitly in the bridge Sirat, finer than a -hair, sharper than a cimeter, which leads to the infernal -regions; he faithfully performs his ablutions -at the appointed hours, and at sunset shuts himself -into his house. He of the frock-coat, on the contrary,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171">171</a></span> -laughs at the Prophet, has his photograph -taken, talks French, and spends his evening at the -theatre. Between these two extremes are those -who, having departed somewhat from the ancient -dress of their countrymen, are still unwilling to -Europeanize themselves altogether. Some of them, -while wearing turbans, yet have them so exceedingly -small that some day they can be quietly exchanged -for the fez without creating too much -scandal; others who still wear the caftan have -already adopted the fez; others, again, conform to -the general fashion of the ancient costume, but have -left off the sash and slippers as well as the bright -colors, and little by little will get rid of the rest as -well. The women alone still adhere to their veils -and the long mantles covering the entire person; -but the veil has grown transparent, and not infrequently -reveals the outline of a little hat and -feathers, while the mantle as often as not conceals -a Parisian costume of the latest mode. Every year -a thousand caftans disappear to make room for as -many black coats; every day sees the death of a -Turk of the old school, the birth of one of the new. -The newspaper replaces the <i>tespi</i>, the cigar the -chibuk; wine is used instead of flavored water, carriages -instead of the <i>arabà</i>; the French grammar -supersedes the Arabian, the piano the <i>timbur</i>; stone -houses rise on the sites of wooden ones. Everything -is undergoing change and transformation. At the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172">172</a></span> -present rate it may well be that in less than a century -those who wish to find the traces of ancient Turkey -will be obliged to seek for them in the remotest provinces -of Asia Minor, just as we now look for ancient -Spain in the most out-of-the-way villages of Andalusia.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Constantinople of the Future.</span></h3> - -<p>Often, while gazing at Constantinople from the -bridge of the Sultan Validéh, I would be confronted -by the question, “What is to become of this city in -one or two centuries, even if the Turks are not -driven out of Europe?” Alas! there is but little -doubt that the great holocaust of beauty at the -hands of civilization will have been already accomplished. -I can see that Constantinople of the future, -that Oriental London, rearing itself in mournful and -forbidding majesty upon the ruins of the most radiant -city in the world. Her hills will be levelled, -her woods and groves cut down, her many-colored -houses razed to the ground; the horizon will be shut -in on all sides by long rows of palatial dwellings, -factories, and workshops, broken here and there by -huge business-houses and pointed spires; long, -straight streets will divide Stambul into ten thousand -square blocks like a checker-board; telegraph-wires -will interlace like some monster spider-web -above the roofs of the noisy city; across the bridge -of the Sultan Validéh will pour a black torrent of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173">173</a></span> -stiff hats and caps; the mysterious retreats of the -Seraglio will become a zoological garden, the Castle -of the Seven Towers a penitentiary, the Hebdomon -Palace a museum of natural history; everything -will be solid, geometrical, useful, gray, hideous, and -a thick black cloud of smoke will hide the blue -Thracian heavens, to which no more ardent prayers -will be addressed nor poets’ songs nor longing eyes -of lovers. At such thoughts as these I could not -help feeling my heart sink within me, but then -quickly there came the consoling fancy that possibly—who -knows?—some charming Italian bride of the -next century, coming here on her wedding journey, -may be heard to exclaim, “What a pity! what a -dreadful pity it is that Constantinople has changed -so from what it was at the period of that old torn -book of the nineteenth century I found in the bottom -of my grandmother’s clothes-press!”</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Dogs.</span></h3> - -<p>In those coming days another feature of Constantinopolitan -life will also have disappeared, which is now -one of the most curious of her curiosities—the dogs. -And, as this is a subject which really merits attention, -I am going to devote some little space to it. -Constantinople is one huge dog-kennel; every one -can see this for himself as soon as he gets there. -The dogs constitute a second population in the city, -and, while they are less numerous than the first, they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174">174</a></span> -are hardly less interesting as a study. Every one -knows how the Turks love and protect them, but -just why they do so is not so easy to decide. I -could not, for my own part, make out whether it is -because the Koran recommends all men to be merciful -to animals, or because they are supposed, like -certain birds, to bring good luck, or because the -Prophet loved them, or because they figure in their -sacred books, or because, as some insist, when -Muhammad the Conqueror made his victorious entry -into the city through the breach in the gate of St. -Romanus he was accompanied by a following composed -principally of dogs. Be this as it may, the -fact remains that many Turks leave considerable -sums at their death for their maintenance, and when -Sultan Abdul-Mejid had them all transported to the -island of Marmora the people murmured, so that -they were brought back amid public rejoicings, and -the government has not attempted to interfere with -them since. At the same time, the dog, having -been pronounced by the Koran to be an unclean -animal, not one out of all the innumerable hordes -which infest Constantinople has an owner; any Turk -harboring one would consider his house defiled. -They are associated together in a great republic of -freebooters, without collars or masters or kennels or -homes or laws. Their entire lives are passed in the -streets. There, scratching out little dens for themselves, -they sleep and eat, are born, nourish their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175">175</a></span> -young, and die; and no one, at least in Stambul, -interferes in the smallest degree with their occupations -or their repose. They are the masters of the -road. With us it is customary for the dogs to withdraw -to allow horses and people to pass by. There -it is quite different, people, camels, horses, donkeys, -and vehicles making sometimes quite a considerable -circuit in order not to disturb the dogs: sometimes -in one of the most crowded quarters of Stambul four -or five of them, curled up fast asleep directly in the -middle of the street, will make the entire population -turn out for half a day. And in Pera and Galata it -is nearly as bad, only there it is done less out of respect -for the dogs themselves than for their numbers. -Were you to attempt to clear the road, you would -have to keep up an uninterrupted series of blows -and kicks from the moment you set out until your -return. The utmost they will do voluntarily is, -when they see a carriage and four coming like the -wind down some level street, at the last moment, -when there is no possible hope of its turning out and -the horses’ hoofs are fairly grazing their backs, they -will slowly and unwillingly drag themselves a couple -of feet to one side, nicely calculating the least possible -distance necessary to save their precious necks. -Laziness is the distinguishing quality of the Constantinople -dogs. They lie down in the middle of the -street, five or six or a dozen of them in a row or -group, curled up in such a manner as to look much<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176">176</a></span> -more like heaps of refuse than living animals, and -there they will sleep away the entire day, undisturbed -by the din and clamor going on about them, -and not rain or sun, wind or cold, has the least -power to affect them. When it snows, they sleep -under the snow; when it rains, they stay on until they -are so completely covered with mud that when they -finally get up they look like unfinished clay models -of dogs, with nothing to indicate eyes, ears, or -mouth.</p> - -<p>The conditions of society, however, in Pera and -Galata are not quite so favorable to the contemplative -life as in Stambul, owing to the greater difficulty -in obtaining food: in the latter place they -live <i>en pension</i>, while in the former they eat <i>à la -carte</i>. They take the place of scavengers, falling -with joy upon refuse which hogs would decline as -food, willing, in fact, to eat pretty much everything -short of stones. No sooner have they swallowed -sufficient to sustain life than they compose themselves -to slumber, and continue to sleep until -aroused again by the pangs of hunger. And they -almost always sleep in the same spot. The canine -population of Constantinople is divided into settlements -and quarters, just as the human population is. -Every street and neighborhood is inhabited, or -rather held possession of, by a certain number of -dogs, the relatives and friends of one family, who -never leave it themselves or allow strangers to come<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177">177</a></span> -in. They have a sort of police force, with outposts -and sentries, who go the rounds and act as scouts. -Woe to that dog who, emboldened by hunger, dares -to adventure his person across the boundaries of his -neighbors’ territory! A crowd of infuriated curs -give chase the instant his presence is discovered; if -he is caught, they make short work of him; otherwise -he is pursued as far as the confines of their own -quarter, but no farther, as the enemy’s country is -nearly always both feared and respected. It would -be impossible to convey any just idea of the skirmishes -and pitched battles which arise over a disputed -bone, a reigning belle, or an infringement of -territorial rights. Two dogs encounter one another; -a dispute follows, and instantly reinforcements pour -in from every street, lane, and alley; nothing can -be seen but a confused, moving mass enveloped in -clouds of dust, out of which there issues such a -deafening hurlyburly of howls, yelps, and snarls as -would crack the ear-drums even of a deaf man. At -last the group breaks up again, and, as the dust subsides, -the bodies of the fallen may be seen extended -on the ground. Love-passages, jealousies, duels, -bloodshed, broken limbs, and lacerated skins are the -affairs of every hour. Occasionally they assemble -in such noisy troops in front of some shop that the -owner and his assistants are obliged, in the interests -of trade, to arm themselves with stools and bars and -sally forth in approved military style, taking the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178">178</a></span> -enemy by storm; and then there follows a pandemonium -of howls, yells, and lamentations mingling -with the sound of cracked heads and ribs, enough to -fairly make the welkin ring. In Pera and Galata especially -these wretched beasts are so ill treated, so accustomed -to expect a blow whenever they see a stick, -that at the mere sound of a cane or umbrella on the -sidewalk they make preparations for flight: even -when they seem to be fast asleep they frequently -have the corner of one eye, just the point of a pupil, -open, with which to watch attentively, for a quarter -of an hour at a time, the slightest movement of some -distant object bearing a resemblance, no matter how -slight, to a stick. So unused are they to humane -treatment that if you pat the head of one of them -in passing, a dozen others come running up, fawning -and gambolling and wagging their tails, to receive a -like caress, and accompany the generous patron all -the way to the end of the street, their eyes shining -with joy and gratitude.</p> - -<div id="if_i_178" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_178.jpg" width="600" height="474" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Group of Dogs.</div></div> - -<p>The condition of a dog in Pera and Galata is -worse, all said, than that of a spider in Holland, and -their’s is usually admitted to be the most persecuted -race in all the animal kingdom. When one sees the -existence led by these miserable dogs, it is impossible -not to think that there must be for them, as -well, some compensation in another world. Like -everything else in Constantinople, the sight of them -recalled an historical reminiscence, but in their case<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179">179</a></span> -it seemed like the bitterest irony to picture the life -of Bayezid’s famous hunting-pack, who ran about -the imperial forests of Olympia wearing purple trappings -and collars set with pearls. What a contrast -of social conditions! Their unfortunate state has -no doubt a great deal to do with their hideous appearance, -but, apart from that, they are almost all -of the mastiff breed or wolf-dogs, bearing some resemblance -to both foxes and wolves, or rather they -do not bear a resemblance to anything, but are a -horrible race of mongrels, spotted over with strange -colors—about as large as the so-called butcher’s dog, -and so thin that each rib can be counted twenty feet -off. Most of them, moreover, have become so reduced -in the course of a life of incessant warfare -that if you did not see them moving about you would -be apt to take them for the mutilated remains of -dogs. You find them with their tails cut off, ears -torn, with skinned backs, sides laid open, blind in -one eye, lame in two legs, covered with wounds, devoured -by flies, reduced to the last possible stages to -which a living dog can be brought—veritable types -of war, famine, and pestilence. The tail may be -spoken of, in connection with them, as an article of -luxury: rare is it, indeed, for a Constantinople dog -to enjoy the possession of one for more than a couple -of months, at most, of public life. Poor creatures! -they would move a heart of stone to pity, and yet -at times they are so grotesquely maimed and altered,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180">180</a></span> -you see them going along with such a singular gait, -such odd, ungainly movements, that it is almost impossible -not to laugh outright. And, after all, -neither hunger nor blows, nor even warfare, constitutes -their most serious trial, but a cruel custom -which has prevailed for some time in Pera and -Galata. Sometimes in the middle of the night the -peaceful inhabitants of a quarter are aroused from -their slumbers by a diabolical uproar: rushing to -their windows, they behold a crowd of dogs leaping -and dancing about in agony, bounding high in the -air, striking their heads against the walls, or rolling -over and over in the dust: presently the uproar subsides, -and in the morning, by the early light, the -street is seen all strewn with dead bodies. It is the -doctor or apothecary of the quarter, who, being in -the habit of studying at night, has distributed a -handful of pills in order to obtain a fortnight’s -quiet. Through these and other means it happens -that there is some slight decrease in the number of -dogs in Pera and Galata; but what does this avail, -since at Stambul they are so rapidly on the increase -that it is merely a question of time when the supply -of food there will prove insufficient for their support, -and colonists will be sent over to the other shore to -supply the places of those families which have been -exterminated and fill up all blanks caused by war, -famine, or poison.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181">181</a></span></p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Eunuchs.</span></h3> - -<p>But there are other beings in Constantinople who -arouse a far more profound sentiment of pity than -the dogs. The eunuchs, who were first introduced -among the Turks in spite of the clear and unmistakable -voice of the Koran, which denounced this infamous -form of degradation in no measured terms, -continue to exist in defiance of recent legislation -prohibiting the inhuman traffic, since stronger than -either law or religion are the abominable thirst for -gold which induces the crime and the cowardly egotism -which derives advantage from it. These unfortunates -are to be met at every street-corner, just -as they are encountered on every page of history. -In the background of every historical scene in -Turkey may be traced one of these sinister forms -grasping the threads of a conspiracy, laden with -gold, or stained with blood—victim, favorite, or instrument -of vengeance; if not openly formidable, -secretly so; standing like a spectre in the shadow -of the throne or blocking the approach to some -mysterious doorway. And the same way in Constantinople: -in the midst of a crowded bazâr, -among the throng of pleasure-seekers at the Sweet -Waters, beneath the columns of the mosques, beside -the carriages, on the steamboats, in käiks, at all the -festivals, wherever people are assembled together, -one sees these phantoms of men, these melancholy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182">182</a></span> -countenances, like a dark shadow thrown across -every aspect of gay Oriental life. With the decline -of the absolutism of the Sultan their political -power has waned, just as the relaxing of Oriental -jealousy has diminished their importance in private -life; the advantages they once enjoyed have consequently -become greatly reduced, and it is only with -considerable difficulty that they are now able to -acquire sufficient wealth or power to in any measure -compensate them for their misfortune. No Ghaznefér -Aghà would now be forthcoming to submit voluntarily -to mutilation in order to become chief of -the white eunuchs; all those of the present day are -unwilling victims, and victims who receive no adequate -compensation. Bought or stolen as children -in Abyssinia or Syria, about one in every three survives -the infamous knife, to be sold in defiance of -the law, and with a pretence of secresy far more revolting -than if it were done openly. There is no -need to have them pointed out: any one can recognize -them at a glance. They are usually tall, fat, -and flabby, with smooth, colorless faces, short waists, -and long legs and arms. They wear fezzes, long -black coats, and European trousers, and carry a -whip made of hippopotamus skin, their badge of -office, walking with long strides, and softly like big -children. When on duty they accompany their -mistresses on foot or horseback, sometimes preceding, -sometimes following after, the carriage, either<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183">183</a></span> -singly or in pairs, and looking around them with an -ever-watchful eye, which, at the slightest suggestion -of disrespect either by look or gesture on the part -of a passer-by, becomes so full of angry menace as -to send a cold chill down one’s backbone; but, except -in some such case as this, they have either no -expression at all or else an utter weariness of everything -in the world. I cannot recollect ever having -seen one of them laugh. Some among them, while -very young, look fifty years old, and others, again, -give one the impression of youths who have suddenly, -in the course of a few hours, grown into old -men; many of them, sleek, soft, and well-rounded, -look like carefully-fattened animals. They wear fine -clothing, and are as scrupulously neat and redolent -of perfume as some vain young girl. There are -men so heartless as to laugh in the faces of these -unhappy creatures as they pass them on the street; -possibly they imagine that, having been accustomed to -it from infancy, they are unconscious or nearly so of -the gulf which divides them from the rest of the human -family. But it is perfectly well known that this is -not the case; and, indeed, who, after giving the subject -a moment’s thought, could suppose that it was? -To belong to neither sex; to be merely the phantom -of a man; to live in the midst of life, and yet -not of it; to feel the billows of human passion -surging all about you and be obliged to remain cold, -impassive, unmoved, like a reef in the storm; to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184">184</a></span> -have your very thoughts, the natural, promptings of -your whole being, held in check by an iron band -that no amount of virtuous effort on your part will -ever avail to bend or break; to have constantly -presented before your eyes a picture of happiness -toward which all around you tends, the centre about -which everything circulates, the illuminating cause -of all the conditions of life, and to know yourself -immeasurably far away in the outside darkness, in -a cold immensity of space, like some wandering -spirit accursed of God; and to be, moreover, yourself -the guardian of that happiness in which you -can never participate, the actual barrier which the -jealousy of man has reared between his own felicity -and the outside world, the bolt with which he makes -fast his door, the cloth he uses to conceal his treasures; -to be obliged to live in the very midst of that -sensuous, perfumed existence of youth and beauty -and enjoyment, with shame upon your brow and -fury in your soul, despised, set aside, without name, -without family, without a mother or so much as one -tender memory, cut off from the common ties of -nature and humanity,—who could doubt for one instant -that theirs is a life of torment which the mind -is powerless to grasp, like living with a dagger thrust -into one’s heart?</p> - -<p>And this outrage still continues: these unhappy -creatures walk the streets of a European city, live -among men, and, wonderful to relate, refrain from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185">185</a></span> -tearing, biting, stabbing, spitting in the face of that -cowardly humanity which dares to look them in the -eye without either shame or pity, while it busies -itself with international associations for the protection -of dogs and cats! Their whole existence is -nothing but a series of tortures: as soon as the -women of the harem find that they are unwilling to -connive at their intrigues, they look upon them as -spies and jailers, and hate them accordingly, punishing -them by every device of coquetry that lies in -their power until they sometimes drive them quite -beyond all bounds, as in the case of the poor black -eunuch in the <i>Lettere persiane</i>, who put his mistress -in the bath. The very names they bear are a bitter -irony, being called after flowers and perfumes, in -allusion to the ladies whose guardians they are, as -<i>possessors of hyacinths, guardians of lilies, custodians -of roses and of violets</i>. And sometimes, poor -wretches! they fall in love and are jealous and -chafe, and become shedders of blood, or, seeing that -some ardent glance directed toward their lady is returned, -they lose their heads altogether and strike, -as happened once during the Crimean War, when a -eunuch struck a French officer in the face, and had -his own head cut open in consequence by the other’s -sword. Who can tell what they suffer or how the -mere sight of beauty must sometimes torture them, -a caress enrage, a smile torment them, the sound of -a kiss given and returned cause their hands to steal<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186">186</a></span> -toward the dagger’s hilt? It is hardly to be wondered -at that in their great empty hearts little -flourishes beside the cold passions of hate, revenge, -and ambition; that they grow up embittered, cowardly, -envious, and savage; that they have either -the dumb, unreasoning devotion of an animal for -their owners, or else are cunning and treacherous; -or that, when they do get into power, they use it to -revenge themselves upon mankind for the affront -put upon them. The more desolate and isolated -their lot, so much the more do they seem to -feel a necessity for female companionship. Unable -to be her lover, they seek to be the friend of woman. -They even marry, sometimes choosing for their -wives women who are pregnant, as Sunbullin, -Ibrahim’s chief eunuch, did, so as to have a child to -love as his own, or, like the head eunuch of Ahmed -II., they have harems filled with virgins in order -that they may enjoy the contemplation and society -of female loveliness; others adopt young girls, so -that in old age they may have a female breast -upon which to recline and not go down to the -grave ignorant of all tenderness and loving care, -having had nothing all their lives but scorn and -contempt, or at best indifference. It is not uncommon -for those who have grown wealthy at court -or in some princely establishment, where they have -combined with the duties of chief eunuch those of -intendant, to purchase in old age a pretty villa on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187">187</a></span> -the Bosphorus, and there to pass the remainder of -their days in feasting and gayety, seeking by these -means to blot out the recollection of their misfortune.</p> - -<p>Among all the various tales and anecdotes which -were told me about these unfortunate beings one -stands out with peculiar clearness in my memory. -It was related by a young doctor of Pera in denial -of the statement, sometimes made, that eunuchs do -not suffer.</p> - -<p>“One evening,” said he, “I was leaving the house -of a wealthy Mussulman, one of whose four wives -was ill with heart disease; it was my third visit, -and on coming away, as well as on entering, I was -always preceded by a tall eunuch who called aloud -the customary warning, ‘Women, withdraw,’ in -order that the ladies and female slaves might know -that there was a man in the harem and keep out of -sight. On reaching the courtyard the eunuch returned, -leaving me to make my way out alone. On -this occasion, just as I was about to open the door, -I felt a light touch on my arm: turning around, I -found, standing close by me, another eunuch, a good-looking -youth of eighteen or twenty, who stood gazing -silently at me, his eyes filled with tears. Finding -that he did not speak, I asked him what I could -do for him. He hesitated a moment, and then, -clasping my hand convulsively in both of his, he -said in a hoarse voice, in which there was a ring of -despair, ‘Doctor, you know some remedy for every<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188">188</a></span> -malady; tell me, is there none for mine?’ I cannot -express to you the effect those simple words produced -upon me: I wanted to answer him, but my voice -seemed to die away, and finally, not knowing what -to do or say, I pulled the door open and fled. But -all that night and for many days after I kept seeing -his face and hearing those mournful words; and I -can tell you that more than once I could feel the -tears rising at the recollection.”</p> - -<p>Philanthropists, journalists, ministers, ambassadors, -and you, gentlemen, deputies to the Stambul -Parliament and senators of the Crescent, raise an -outcry in God’s name that this hideous ignominy, -this black stain on the honor of mankind, may in -the twentieth century be merely another dreadful -memory like the Bulgarian atrocities.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Army.</span></h3> - -<div id="if_i_188" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_188.jpg" width="600" height="473" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Types of Turkish Soldiers.</div></div> - -<p>Although I was fully aware before going to Constantinople -that no traces of the magnificent army -of former days were still to be seen, nevertheless, as -soldiers are always a source of lively interest to me, -I had no sooner arrived than I began to look about -for them with eager curiosity. What I found, however, -fell short of even what I had been led to expect. -In place of the ancient costume, flowing, -picturesque, and eminently warlike, they have -adopted an ugly, forlorn uniform, consisting of red -trousers, little scant jackets, stripes like a lackey’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189">189</a></span> -livery, belts like those of college students, and on -every head, from the Sultan’s down to the lowest -man in the ranks, that miserable fez, which, besides -being undignified and puerile, especially when -perched on the head of a big, stout Mussulman, is -the direct cause of any amount of ophthalmia and -headache. The brilliancy of the Turkish army is -lost, without any of that which belongs to the -European military having been gained. The soldiers -looked to me a mournful, half-hearted, dirty -set of men. They may be brave, but they are certainly -not impressive; and as to the nature of their -training, one may form some idea of that from seeing -officers and men employing their fingers in the -street in place of handkerchiefs. One day I saw the -soldier on guard at the bridge, where smoking is not -allowed, bring this fact to the knowledge of a vice-consul -by snatching the cigar out of his mouth; and -on another occasion, in the mosque of the Dancing -Dervishes, on the Rue de Pera, a soldier informed -three Europeans that they were expected to uncover -by knocking their hats off before my eyes: I knew -very well that to raise a protesting voice on such -occasions would mean nothing less than being seized -and carried off bodily, like a bundle of old rags, to -the guard-house. Hence throughout my entire stay -at Constantinople my attitude toward the military -was one of profound deference. On the other hand, -one ceases to wonder at the uncouthness of the soldiers<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190">190</a></span> -after seeing what sort of people they are -before donning the uniform. One day in Skutari a -hundred or so recruits, probably brought from the -interior of Asia Minor, passed close by me, and it -was a sight which aroused both my compassion and -my disgust. They looked like those terrible bandits -of Hassin the Mad who passed through Constantinople -toward the close of the sixteenth century -on their way to die by the Austrian cannon on -the plain of Pesth. I can see before me now their -wild, sinister faces, rough shocks of hair, half-naked, -tattooed bodies, and barbarous ornaments, -and I seem to smell again the close, sickening -odor, like that of wild animals’ dens, which they -left behind them in the street. When the first news -was brought of the massacres in Bulgaria, at once -my thoughts turned to them. “My Skutari friends, -beyond a doubt,” I said to myself. It is a fact, however, -that they form the one solitary picturesque -feature which I am able to recall of the Mussulman -army.</p> - -<p>O glorious pageant of Bayezid, of Suleiman, -of Muhammad! could one but behold you just once -from the walls of Stambul, drawn up in glittering -array upon the plain of Daûd Pasha! Every -time I passed the triumphal gate of Adrianapolis I -would be haunted by this brilliant vision, and pause -to gaze fixedly at the opening, as though expecting -each moment to see the pasha quartermaster come<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191">191</a></span> -forth, heralding the approach of the imperial -troops.</p> - -<p>It was, in fact, the pasha quartermaster who -marched at the head of the army, with two horse-tails, -his insignia of rank, while behind him for a -great distance flashed and glistened in the sunlight -certain objects which were nothing less than the -eight thousand brazen spoons fastened in the folds -of the Janissaries’ turbans; in their midst could be -seen the waving herons’ plumes and glittering armor -of the colonels, followed by a crowd of servants -laden with arms and provisions. Behind the Janissaries -came a small troop of volunteers and pages -dressed in silk, with iron mail, and shining head-pieces, -accompanied by a band of music; after -them, the cannoneers, with the cannon fastened -together by means of metal chains; and then another -small band of aghas, pages, chamberlains, and -feudal soldiers, mounted on steeds with plumes and -breast-plates. All of these were only the advance-guard, -above whose closely-packed ranks floated -thousands of brilliantly colored standards, waving -horse-tails, and such a sea of lances, swords, bows, -quivers, and arquebuses that it was not easy to distinguish -the lines of swarthy faces burned by exposure -in the Candian and Persian wars; accompanying -them was the discordant sound of drum and -flute, of trombone and kettledrum, mingling with -the voices of the singers who escorted the Janissaries,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192">192</a></span> -and, with the rattle of arms, clanking of -chains, and hoarse cries of Allah, forming a mighty -roar, at once inspiriting and terrible, which could be -heard from the Daûd Pasha camp to the other bank -of the Golden Horn. O poets and painters, you -who have dwelt with loving touch upon every picturesque -detail of that vanished life of the Orient! -come to my aid now, that together we may recall to -life the Third Muhammad’s famous army and send it -forth, brilliant and complete, from the ancient walls -of Stambul.</p> - -<p>Passed the advance-guard, we see another glittering -body of troops. Is it the Sultan? No, as yet -the deity has barely quitted his temple. This is -only the favorite vizier’s retinue, consisting of forty -aghas clad in sable, and mounted upon horses caparisoned -with velvet and with silver bits in their -mouths; behind them are a crowd of pages and gorgeous -grooms, leading other forty horses by the -bridle, with gilded harness, and laden with shields, -maces, and cimeters.</p> - -<p>Another troop advances. This is not the Sultan, -either, but a body of state officials—the chief treasurer, -members of the council, and the high dignitaries -of the Seraglio—and with them a band of -players and a throng of volunteers wearing purple -caps decorated with birds’ wings and dressed in -furs, scarlet silk, leopard skins, and Hungarian<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193">193</a></span> -<i>kolpaks</i>, armed with long lances entwined with silk -and garlands of flowers.</p> - -<p>Still another sparkling wave of horsemen pours -out of the Adrianapolis gate, but it is not the Sultan -yet. This is the train of the grand vizier. First -comes a crowd of mounted arquebusiers, <i>furieri</i>, and -aghas, all high in favor with the Grand Seigneur; -after them forty aghas of the grand vizier, surrounded -by a forest of twelve hundred bamboo -lances, borne by twelve hundred pages, and then -the forty pages of the grand vizier clad in orange -color and armed with bows, their quivers richly ornamented -with gold. Following them are two hundred -more youths, divided into six bands, each band -having a distinctive color, and, riding in their midst, -the governors and relatives of the chief minister; -after these come a throng of grooms, armor-bearers, -employés, servants, pages, and aghas, wearing gold-embroidered -garments, and a troop of standard-bearers -carrying aloft a multitude of silken flags; and -last the <i>kiâya</i>, minister of the interior, escorted by -twelve <i>sciau</i>, or legal executioners, followed by the -grand vizier’s band.</p> - -<p>Another host pours out from the city-walls, and -still it is not the Sultan, but a throng of <i>sciau</i>, <i>furieri</i>, -and underlings, gorgeously attired and forming the -retinues of the jurisconsults, the <i>molla</i> and <i>muderri</i>; -close behind them are the head-masters of the falcon, -vulture, hawk, and kite hunts, followed by a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194">194</a></span> -line of horsemen carrying on their saddles leopards -trained for the chase, and a crowd of falconers, -esquires, grooms with ferrets, standard-bearers, -and drummers, and packs of caparisoned and -bejewelled dogs.</p> - -<p>Another brilliant concourse sweeps out: the crowds -of spectators prostrate themselves. At last the Sultan? -No, not yet. This is not the head of the army, -but its heart, the holy flame of courage and religious -enthusiasm, the sacred ark of the Mussulman, -around which mountains of decapitated heads have -been reared, torrents of human blood have flowed—the -green ensign of the Prophet, the flag among -flags, taken from its place in the mosque of Sultan -Ahmed, and now floating in the midst of a ferocious -mob of dervishes clad in lion and bear skins, a circle -of rapt-looking preaching sheikhs in camel’s-hair -cloaks, and two companies of emirs, descendants of -the Prophet, wearing the green turban; all of whom -together raise a hoarse clamor of shouts, prayers, -shrill cries, and singing.</p> - -<p>Another imposing troop of horsemen herald the -approach, not of the Sultan yet, but of the judiciary, -the judge of Constantinople and chief judge of Asia -and Europe, whose enormous turbans may be seen -towering above the heads of the sciau, who brandish -their silver maces to clear a space for them through -the crowd. With them ride the favorite vizier and -vizier kaimakâm, their turbans decorated with silver<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195">195</a></span> -stars and braided with gold; all the viziers of the -Divan, before whom are borne horse-tails dyed with -henné, attached to the ends of long red and blue -poles; and last of all the military judges, followed -by a train of attendants dressed in leopard skins -and armed with lances—pages, armor-bearers, and -sutlers.</p> - -<p>The next company pours out, glittering, magnificent. -Surely the Sultan? No—the grand vizier, -wearing a purple caftan lined with sable and -mounted upon a horse fairly covered with steel and -gold, he is followed by a throng of attendants clad -in red velvet, and a crowd of high dignitaries, and -the lieutenant-generals of the Janissaries, among -whom the <i>muftis</i> shine out like swans in the midst -of a flock of peacocks; after these, between two -lines of spearmen carrying gilded spears and two -lines of archers with crescent-shaped plumes, come -the gorgeous grooms of the Seraglio, leading by the -bridle a long file of horses from Arabia, Turkestan, -Persia, and Caramania, their saddles of velvet, reins -gilded, stirrups chased, and trappings covered with -silver spangles, and laden with shields and arms -glittering with jewels; finally the two sacred camels -are seen, bearing one the Koran, the other a fragment -of the Kaaba.</p> - -<p>The grand vizier’s retinue has passed, and a -deafening clamor of drums and trumpets assails the -ear. The spectators fly in every direction, cannon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196">196</a></span> -roar, a multitude of running footmen pour through -the gate brandishing their cimeters, and here at last, -in the midst of a thick forest of spears, plumes, and -swords, the central point of those dazzling ranks of -gold and silver head-pieces, beneath a cloud of -waving satin banners, behold the Sultan of sultans, -King of kings, the dispenser of thrones to the -princes of the world, the shadow of God upon earth, -emperor and sovereign lord of the White Sea and of -the Black, of Rumelia and Anatolia, of the province -of Salkadr, of Diarbekr, of Kurdistan, Aderbigian, -Agiem, Sciam, Haleb, Egypt, Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, -the coasts of Arabia and Yemen, together -with all the other dominions conquered by the arms -of his mighty predecessors and august ancestors or -subdued by his own flaming and triumphant sword. -The solemn and imposing train sweeps slowly by. -Now and again, the serried columns swaying a little -to right or left, a glimpse is caught of the three -jewelled plumes which surmount the turban of the -deity, the serious, pallid countenance, the breast -blazing with diamonds; then the ranks close in once -more, the cavalcade passes on, the threatening cimeters -are lowered, the bystanders raise their bowed -heads, the vision disappears.</p> - -<p>After the imperial retinue a crowd of court officials -come, one carrying on his head the Sultan’s -stool, another his sabre, another his turban, another -his mantle, a fifth the silver coffee-pot, a sixth the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197">197</a></span> -golden coffee-pot; then more troops of pages, and -after them the white eunuchs; then three hundred -mounted chamberlains in white caftans, and the hundred -carriages of the harem with silvered wheels, -drawn by oxen hung with garlands of flowers or -horses with velvet trappings, and escorted by a troop -of black eunuchs; then three hundred mules file by -laden with baggage and treasures from the court; -after them a thousand camels carrying water and a -thousand dromedaries laden with provisions; next a -crowd of miners, armorers, and workmen of various -kinds from Stambul, accompanied by a rabble of -buffoons and conjurers; and finally the bulk of the -fighting ranks of the army—hordes of Janissaries, -yellow <i>silidars</i>, purple <i>azabs</i>, <i>spahis</i> with red ensigns, -foreign cavalry with white standards, cannon -that belch forth blocks of lead and marble, the feudal -soldiery from three continents, barbarian volunteers -from the outlying provinces of the empire, -seas of flags, forests of plumes, torrents of turbans—an -iron avalanche on its way to overrun Europe like -a curse sent from God, in whose track will be found -nothing but a desert strewn with smoking ruins and -heaps of skulls.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Idleness.</span></h3> - -<p>Although at certain hours of the day Constantinople -wears an air of bustle and activity, in reality -it is probably the laziest city in Europe, and in this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198">198</a></span> -respect both Turk and Frank meet on common -ground. Every one begins by getting up at the -latest possible hour in the morning. Even in summer, -at a time when our cities are up and doing -from one end to the other Constantinople is still -buried in slumber. It is difficult to find a shop open -or so much as to procure a cup of coffee until the -sun is well up in the heavens. Hotels, offices, -bazârs, banks, all snore together in one joyous -chorus, and nothing short of a cannon would arouse -them. Then the holidays! The Turks keep Friday, -the Jews Saturday, and the Christians Sunday, besides -which regular weekly ones are all the feast-days -of the innumerable saints of the Greek and -Armenian calendars, which are scrupulously observed; -and although all of these holidays are supposed -to affect only certain parts of the community -respectively, in reality they provide large numbers, -with whom, properly speaking, they have -nothing whatever to do, with an excuse for being -idle. You can thus form some idea of the amount -of work accomplished in the course of a week. -There are some offices which are only open twenty-four -hours in the seven days. Each day some one -of the five nationalities who go to make up the population -of Constantinople is rambling about over the -big city with no other object in the world than to -kill time. In this art, however, the Turk yields to -none. He can make a cup of coffee, costing two<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199">199</a></span> -sous, last half a day, and sit immovable for five -hours at a stretch at the foot of a cypress tree in -one of the innumerable cemeteries. His indolence -is a thing absolute and complete, an inertia resembling -death or sleep, in which all the faculties seem -to be suspended—an utter absence of any sort of -emotion, a phase of existence completely unknown -among Europeans. Turks dislike so much as to -have the idea of movement presented to their minds. -At Stambul, for instance, where there are no public -walks, it is extremely unlikely that the Turks would -frequent them if there were: to go to a place designed -expressly for the purpose of being walked -about in would, to their way of thinking, resemble -work entirely too much. They enter the nearest -cemetery or turn down the first street they come -to, and follow, without any objective point, wherever -their legs or the windings of the path or the people -ahead may lead them. A Turk rarely goes to any -spot merely for the purpose of seeing it. There are -those among them, living in Stambul, who have -never been farther than Kassim Pasha; Mussulman -gentlemen who have never gotten beyond the Isles -of the Princes, where they happen to have a friend -living, or their own villa on the Bosphorus. For -them the height of bliss consists in complete inactivity -of body and mind; hence they abandon to the -restless Christian all those great industries which require -care and thought and travelling about from one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200">200</a></span> -place to another, and content themselves with such -small trades as can be conducted sitting down in -the same spot, and where sight can almost take the -place of speech. Labor, which with us governs and -regulates all the conditions of life, is a thing of quite -secondary importance there, subordinated to what is -pleasant and convenient. We look upon repose as -a necessary interruption to work, while to them work -is merely a suspension of repose. The first object, -at all costs, is to sleep, dream, and smoke for a certain -number of hours out of the twenty-four; whatever -time is left over may be employed in gaining -one’s livelihood. Time, as understood by the Turks, -signifies something altogether different from what it -does to us. The hour, day, month, year, has not -a hundredth part of the value there that it has in -other parts of Europe. The very shortest period -required by any official of the Turkish government -in which to answer the simplest form of inquiry is -two weeks. These people do not know what it is to -desire to finish a thing for the mere pleasure of having -done with it, and, with the single exception of -the porters, one never sees a Turk employed on any -business hurrying in the streets of Stambul. All -walk with the same measured tread, as though their -steps were regulated by the beat of a single drum. -With us life is a seething torrent; with them, a -sleeping pool.</p> - -<div id="if_i_200" class="figcenter" style="width: 389px;"> - <img src="images/i_200.jpg" width="389" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">A Turkish Official.</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201">201</a></span></p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Night.</span></h3> - -<p>As by day Constantinople is the most brilliant, so -by night it is the gloomiest, city in Europe. Occasional -street-lamps, placed at long distances one from -the other, hardly suffice to pierce the gloom of the -principal streets, while the others are as black as -caves, and not to be ventured into by one who carries -no light in his hand. Hence by nightfall the -city is practically deserted: the only signs of life -are the night-watchmen, prowling dogs, the skulking -figure of some law-breaker, parties of young men -coming out of a subterranean tavern, and mysterious -lights which appear and vanish again like <i>ignis fatui</i> -down some narrow side-street or in a distant cemetery. -This is the hour in which to look at Stambul -from the heights of Pera or Galata. Each one of -her innumerable little windows is illuminated, and, -with the lights from the shipping, reflections in the -water and the starry heavens, helps to light up four -miles of horizon with a great quivering sea of sparkling -points of fire, in which port, city, and sky melt -imperceptibly one into another until they all seem -to be part of one starry firmament. When it is -cloudy, and through a break the moon appears, you -see above the dark mass of the city, above the inky -blots which mark the woods and gardens, the glittering -rows of domes surmounting the imperial mosques, -shining in the moonlight like great marble tombs,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202">202</a></span> -and suggesting the idea of a necropolis of giants. -But most impressive of all is the view when there -is neither moon nor star nor any light at all. Then -one immense black shadow stretches from Seraglio -Point to Eyûb, a great dark profile, the hills -looking like mountains and their many pointed summits -assuming all manner of fantastic shapes—forests -and armies, ruined castles, rocky fortresses—so that -one’s imagination travels off into the region of -dreams and fairy tales. Gazing across at Stambul -on some such night as this from a lofty terrace in -Pera, one’s brain plays all sorts of mad pranks. In -fancy you are carried into the great shadowy city; -wander through those myriad harems, illuminated -by soft, subdued lights: behold the triumphant -beauty of the favorite, the dull despair of the neglected -wife; watch the eunuch who hangs trembling -and impotent outside the door; follow a pair -of lovers as they thread some steep winding byway; -wander through the deserted galleries of the Grand -Bazâr; traverse the great silent cemeteries; lose -yourself amid the interminable rows of columns in -the subterranean cisterns; imagine that you have -been shut up in the gigantic mosque of Suleiman, -and make its shadowy corridors echo again with -lamentations and shrieks of terror, tearing your hair -and invoking the mercy of the Almighty; and then -suddenly exclaim, “What utter nonsense! I am -here on my friend Santoro’s terrace, and in the room<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203">203</a></span> -below there not only awaits me a supper for a sybarite, -but a gathering of the most amusing wits in -Pera to help me eat it.”</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Constantinople Life.</span></h3> - -<p>Every evening a large number of Italians gathered -at the house of my good friend Santoro—lawyers, -artists, doctors, and merchants—among whom I -passed many a delightful hour. How the conversation -flowed! Had I only understood stenography, I -might easily have collected the materials for a delightful -book out of the various anecdotes and bits -of gossip told there night after night. The doctor, -who had just been called to a patient in the harem; -the painter, who was employed upon a pasha’s portrait -somewhere on the Bosphorus; the lawyer, who -was arguing a case before a tribunal; the high -official, who had knotted the threads of an international -love-affair,—each separate experience as -they related it formed a complete and highly entertaining -sketch illustrative of Oriental manners and -customs. Each fresh arrival is the signal for something -new. “Have you heard the news?” one exclaims -on entering: “the government has just paid -the employés’ salaries, due for over three months, -and Galata is flooded with copper money.” Then -another arrives: “What do you suppose happened -this morning? The Sultan got mad at the minister -of finance and threw an inkstand at his head!” A<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204">204</a></span> -third tells a story of a Turkish president of a tribunal. -Provoked, it seems, by the wretched arguments -employed by an unscrupulous French lawyer -in defending a bad cause, he paid him this pretty -compliment before the entire audience: “My dear -advocate, it is really quite useless for you to take so -much pains to try to make your case appear good. -——;” And here he pronounced Cambronne’s word -in full: “no matter how you may turn and twist it, -it is still——,” and he said it again.</p> - -<p>The conversation naturally covered geographical -ground quite new to me. They used the same easy -familiarity in talking of persons and events in Tiflis, -Trebizond, Teheran, and Damascus as we do when -it is a question of Paris, Vienna, or Geneva, in any -one of which places they had friends or had lately -been or were about going themselves. I seemed to -be in the centre of another world, with new horizons -opening out on all sides, and it was difficult to -avoid a sinking feeling at the thought of the time -when I would be obliged to take up once more the -narrow and contracted routine of my ordinary life. -“How will it ever be possible,” I would ask myself, -“to settle down again to those commonplace occupations -and threadbare topics?” This is the way -every one feels who has spent any time in Constantinople. -After leading the life of that place, all -others must necessarily appear flat and colorless. -Existence there is easier, gayer, more youthful<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205">205</a></span> -than in any other city in Europe; it is as though -one were encamped upon foreign soil, surrounded -by an endless succession of strange and unexpected -sights, an ever-changing, shifting scene which -leaves upon one’s mind such a sense of the instability -and uncertainty of all things human that you end -by adopting something of the fatalistic creed of the -Mussulman or else the reckless indifference of the -adventurer.</p> - -<p>The apathy of that people is something incredible; -they live, as a poet has said, in a sort of intimate -familiarity with death, looking upon life as a pilgrimage -too short to attempt, even were it worth -their while anyhow, great undertakings requiring -long and sustained effort; and sooner or later this -fatalism attacks the European as well, inducing him -to live in a certain sense from day to day, without -troubling himself more than necessary about the -future, and playing in the world, so far as lies in his -power, the simple and reposeful part of a spectator. -Then the constant intercourse with so many nationalities, -whose language you must speak and whose -views to a certain extent you must adopt, does away -with many of those fixed rules and conventionalities -which have in our countries become iron-bound -laws governing society, and whose observance or -non-observance causes endless vexations and heartburnings.</p> - -<p>The Mussulman population forms of itself a never-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206">206</a></span>ending -source of interest and curiosity, always at -hand to be seen and studied, and so stimulating and -enlivening to the imagination as to drive away all -thought of ennui. The very plan of Constantinople -helps to this end. Where in other cities the eye and -mind are almost always imprisoned, as it were, in -one street or narrow circuit, there every step presents -a new outlet through which both may roam -over immeasurable distances of space and scenes of -entrancing beauty, and, finally, there is the absolute -freedom of that life, governed by no one set of -customs. One can do absolutely as he pleases; -nothing is looked upon as out of the way, and the -most astounding performances hardly cause a ripple -of talk, forgotten almost as soon as told in that huge -moral anarchy. Europeans live there in a sort of -republican confederacy, enjoying a freedom from all -restraint such as would only be possible in one of -their own cities during some period of disorder. It is -like a continual Carnival, a perpetual Shrove Tuesday, -and it is this, even more than her beauty, -which endears Constantinople so greatly to the -foreigner, so that, thinking of her after long absence, -one experiences a feeling almost amounting -to home-sickness; while those Europeans who have -made their homes there strike down deep roots and -become as devotedly attached to her as her legitimate -sons. The Turks are certainly not far wrong -when they call her “the enchantress of a thousand<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207">207</a></span> -lovers,” or say in their proverb that for him who has -once drunk of the waters of Top-Khâneh there is no -cure—he is infatuated for life.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Italians.</span></h3> - -<p>The Italian colony at Constantinople, while it is -one of the most numerous, is far from being the most -prosperous there. It numbers among it but few rich -persons, and many who are wretchedly poor, especially -those who come from Southern Italy and are -unable to find work: it is also the colony most poorly -represented by the press, when indeed it is represented -at all, its newspapers only making their appearance -to promptly vanish again. When I was -there the colony was awaiting the issue of the <i>Levantino</i>, -and meanwhile a sample copy was put in -circulation setting forth the academic titles and personal -gifts of the editor: I made out seventy-seven -in all, without counting modesty.</p> - -<p>One should walk down the Rue de Pera of a Sunday -morning, when the Italian families are on their -way to mass: you hear every dialect in Italy. Sometimes -I used to enjoy it, but not always: it was too -depressing to see so many of one’s fellow-countrymen -homeless wanderers on the face of the earth; -many of them, too, must have been cast up on those -shores by storms of misfortune and strange, uncomfortable -adventures. And then the old people who -would never see Italy again; the children in whose<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208">208</a></span> -ears that name meant nothing more than a place—dear, -no doubt, but distant and unknown; and those -young girls, many of whom must inevitably marry -men of other nationalities and found families in -which nothing Italian will survive beyond a proper -name or two and the fond memories of the mother. -I encountered pretty Genoese, looking as though -they might just have come down from the gardens -of Acquasola; charming Neapolitan faces; graceful -little heads which I seemed to have seen a hundred -times beneath the porticoes of Po or the Milanese -arcades. I felt like gathering them all into a bunch, -tying them together with rose-colored ribbons, and -marching them two by two on shipboard, conveying -them back to Italy at the rate of fifteen knots -an hour. I would also have liked to take back -with me, as a curiosity, a sample of the language -spoken by those born in the Italian colony, especially -those of the third or fourth generation. A Crusca -academician, on hearing it, would have taken to his -bed with a raging fever. A language formed by -mingling the Italian spoken by a Piedmontese doorkeeper, -a Lombardy hack-driver, and a Romagnol -porter would, I think, be less outrageous than that -spoken on the banks of the Golden Horn. It is -Italian which, impure at the outset, has been mixed -with four or five other languages, each impure in -their turn; and the most singular part of it is that -in the midst of all these barbarisms you suddenly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209">209</a></span> -come plump upon some such scholarly word or -phrase as <i>puote</i>, <i>imperocche</i>, <i>a ogni pie sospiuto</i>, <i>havvi</i>, -<i>puossi</i>, witnesses to the efforts made by some of our -worthy compatriots, who by dipping into anthologies -seek to preserve the <i>celestial Tuscan speech</i>. But, -as compared with the rest, these might well lay -claim, as Cesari said, to a reputation for using choice -language. Some of them can hardly be understood -at all. One day I was being escorted, I don’t remember -just where, by an Italian youth of sixteen -or seventeen, a friend of a friend of mine, who was -born in Pera. As we walked along I began asking -him some questions, but soon found that he did not -want to talk; he answered me in a low tone and as -shortly as possible, growing red in the face as he did -so and hanging his head; he was so evidently unhappy -that I presently asked him what it was that -troubled him so much. “Oh,” said he with a despairing -sigh, “I talk so badly!” As we continued -our conversation I found that he spoke indeed a -strange dialect, full of outlandish words and strongly -resembling the so-called Frank language, which, as -a French wit once said, consists in pouring out as -rapidly as possible a quantity of Italian, French, -Spanish, and Greek nouns and tenses until you happen -to strike one the listener understands. It is, -however, seldom necessary to go to so much trouble -in Pera or Galata, where almost every one, including -the Turks, can speak, or at least understand,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210">210</a></span> -some Italian, though this language, if you can call it -a language, is almost exclusively a spoken one, if -you can call it speaking. The tongue generally -employed for writing is French. Of Italian literature -there is none. I recollect on one solitary occasion, -in a Galata café crowded with merchants, finding -at the foot of the commercial intelligence and -quotations of the Bourse, printed in French and -Italian, eight mournful little verses all about zephyrs -and stars and sighs. Unhappy poet! it seemed as -though I could see you before me, buried beneath -huge piles of merchandise, composing those verses -with your last breath.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Theatres.</span></h3> - -<p>Any one who is blessed with a pretty strong -stomach can pass his evenings while at Constantinople -at the play: he may, moreover, choose among -quite a number of almost equally wretched little -theatres of various sorts, many of which are beer-gardens -and wine-shops as well. At some one of -these one can always find the Italian comedy, or -rather a troupe of Italian actors, whose efforts frequently -make one wish the whole arena could be -converted into a vegetable market. The Turks, -however, frequent by preference those theatres in -which certain bare-necked, brazen-faced, painted -French women sing light songs to the accompaniment -of a wretched orchestra. One of these theatres<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211">211</a></span> -was the Alhambra, situated in the Grande Rue -de Pera: it consisted of a long apartment, always -crowded to the utmost, and red with fezzes from -stage to entrance. The nature of those songs, and -the bold gestures which those intrepid ladies employed -in order to make their meaning perfectly -clear, no one could either imagine or credit unless -indeed he had been to the <i>Capellanes</i> at Madrid. At -anything especially coarse or impudent all those -great fat Turks, seated in long lines, broke into loud -roars of laughter, and then the habitual mask of -dignity and reserve would drop from their faces, exposing -the depths of their real nature and every -secret of their grossly sensual lives. There is nothing -that the Turk conceals so habitually and effectually -as the sensual nature of his tastes and manner -of life. He never appears in public accompanied -by a woman, rarely looks at, and never speaks to, -one, and considers it almost an insult to be inquired -of concerning his wives. Judging merely by outside -appearances, one would take this to be the most austere -and straitlaced people in the world, but it is -only in appearance. The same Turk who colors to -the tips of his ears if one so much as asks if his -wife is well, sends his boys, and his girls too, to -listen to the coarse jests of <i>Kara-gyuz</i>, corrupting -their minds before their senses are fairly awakened, -while he himself is fully capable of abandoning the -peaceful enjoyments of his own harem for such excesses<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212">212</a></span> -as Bayezid the Thunderbolt set the first example -of, and Mahmûd the Reformer was doubtless -not the last to follow. And, indeed, were proof -needed of the profound corruption which lurks beneath -this mask of seeming austerity, one need go -no farther than to that selfsame <i>Kara-gyuz</i>. It is a -grotesque caricature of a middle-class Turk, a sort -of <i>ombra chinese</i>, whose head, arms, and legs are -made to accompany with appropriate gestures the -developments of some extravagant burlesque having -usually a love-intrigue for its plot. The marionette -is worked behind a transparent curtain, and resembles -a depraved Pulcinello, coarse, cynical, and cunning. -Sensual as a satyr, foul-mouthed as a fishwife, -he throws his audience into paroxysms of -laughter and enthusiasm by every sort of indecent -jest and extravagant gesture. Before the censorship -curbed to some small extent the hitherto unbridled -looseness of this performance, the figure was -made to give visible proof of its corporeal resemblance -to Priapus, and not infrequently upon this -lofty and elevating point the whole plot hinged.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Turkish Cooking.</span></h3> - -<p>Wishing to investigate for myself the Turkish -manner of cooking, I got my good friends of Pera -to take me to a restaurant <i>ad hoc</i> where every kind -of Turkish dish is to be had, from the most delicious -delicacies of the Seraglio to camel’s meat prepared<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213">213</a></span> -as the Arabians eat it, and horseflesh dressed according -to the Turkoman fashion. Santoro ordered the -breakfast, severely Turkish from the opening course -to the fruit, and I, invoking the names of all those -intrepid spirits who have faced death in the cause -of science, conscientiously swallowed a part of each -without so much as a groan. There were upward -of twenty dishes, the Turks being a good deal like -children in their liking to peck at a quantity of different -kinds of food, rather than satisfy their appetite -with a few solid dishes. Shepherds of the day -before yesterday, they seem to disdain a simple table -as though it were a trait of rustic niggardliness. I -cannot give a clear account of each dish, many of -them being now no more than a vague and sinister -memory. I do, however, remember the <i>kibab</i>, which -consisted of little scraps of mutton roasted on the -coals, seasoned with a great deal of pepper and -cloves, and served on two soft, greasy biscuits—a -dish not to be named among the lesser sins. I can -also recall vividly the odor of the <i>pilav</i>, the <i>sine quâ -non</i> of a Turkish meal, consisting of rice and mutton, -meaning to the Turk what maccaroni does to the -Neapolitan or <i>cuscussu</i> to the Arab or <i>puchero</i> to the -Spaniard. I have not forgotten either—and it is the -sole pleasant memory connected with that repast—the -<i>rosh’ab</i>, which is sipped with a spoon at the end of -the meal: it is composed of raisins, plums, apples, -cherries, and other fruits, cooked in water with a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214">214</a></span> -great deal of sugar, and flavored with essence of -musk, citron, and rose-water. Then there were -numberless other preparations of mutton and lamb, -cut in small pieces and boiled until no flavor remained; -fish swimming in oil; rice-balls wrapped in -grape-leaves; sugar syrups; salads served in pastry; -compôtes; conserves; sauces, flavored with every -sort of aromatic herb—a list as long as the articles -of the penal code for relapsed criminals; and finally -the masterpiece of some Arabian pastry-cook, a -huge dish of sweetmeats, among which were conspicuous -a steamboat, a fierce-looking lion, and a -sugar house with grated windows. When all was -over I felt a good deal as though I had swallowed -the contents of a pharmacist’s shop or assisted at one -of those feasts which children prepare with powdered -brickdust, chopped grass, and stale fruit—not -unattractive-looking when seen at a distance. All -the dishes are served rapidly, four or five at a time. -The Turks dive into each with their fingers, the knife -and spoon only, being in common use among them, -and one drinking-goblet serves for the whole company, -the waiter keeping it constantly filled with -flavored water.</p> - -<p>These customs, however, were not followed by the -party who were breakfasting at the table adjoining -ours. They were evidently Turks who valued their -ease, even to the extent of poising their slippers -upon the table: each had a plate to himself, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215">215</a></span> -they plied their forks very skilfully, drinking liquors -freely in despite of Mahomet. I observed, -moreover, that they failed to kiss the bread before -beginning to eat, as every good Mussulman should, -and that more than one longing glance was sent in -the direction of our bottles, although the muftis -pronounce it a sin to so much as cast the eye upon -a bottle of wine. There is, indeed, no doubt that -this “father of abominations,” one drop of which is -sufficient to bring down upon the head of the sinning -Mussulman the “curses of every angel in -heaven and earth,” gains new disciples among the -Turks every day, and that nothing but the fear of -public opinion prevents its open use. Were a thick -cloud to descend upon Constantinople some day, and -after an hour suddenly be lifted, I have little doubt -that the sun would surprise fifty thousand Turks, -each one in the act of lifting the bottle to his lips. -In this, as in almost every other shortcoming of the -Turks, it was the sultans who were the stone of -stumbling and rock of offence. Singular to relate, -it is that very dynasty which rules over a people -among whom it is considered a sin in the sight of -God to drink wine at all, which has produced more -drunkards than any other line of rulers in Europe; -so sweet is forbidden fruit even in the estimation of -the “shadow of God upon earth.” It was, we are -told, Bayezid I. who headed the long list of imperial -tipplers, and here, as in the case of the first sin,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216">216</a></span> -woman was the temptress, the wife of this Bayezid, -a daughter of the king of Servia, offering her husband -his first glass of Tokay. Next Bayezid II. -got intoxicated on Cypress and Schiraz wines; then -the selfsame Suleiman I. who fired every ship in the -port of Constantinople that was laden with wine, and -poured molten lead down the throats of those who -drank the forbidden liquor, himself died when drunk, -shot by one of his own archers. Then comes Selim -II., surnamed the <i>messth</i> (sot), whose debauches -lasted three days, and during whose reign men of -the law and men of religion drank openly. In vain -did Muhammad III. thunder against this “abomination -devised by Satan;” in vain did Ahmed I. close -all the taverns and destroy every wine-press in -Stambul; in vain did Murad IV. patrol the city accompanied -by an executioner, who beheaded in his -presence every unfortunate whose breath witnessed -against him, while he himself, ferocious hypocrite -that he was, staggered about the apartments of the -seraglio like any common frequenter of the pothouse. -Since his day the bottle, like some gay little black -imp, has crept into the seraglio, lurks in the bazâr, -hides beneath the pillow of the soldier, thrusts its -little silver or purple neck from beneath the divan -of the beauty, and, crossing the threshold of the very -mosques themselves, has stained the yellow pages of -the Koran with sacrilegious drops.</p> - -<div id="if_i_216" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_216.jpg" width="600" height="435" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Turbeh of Sultan Selim II in St. Sophia.</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217">217</a></span></p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Mohammed.</span></h3> - -<p>Speaking of religion, while wandering about the -streets and byways of Constantinople I used often to -wonder whether, were it not for the voice of the -muezzin, Christians would see anything to remind -them that there was any difference between the religion -of this people and their own. The Byzantine -architecture of the mosques makes them seem very -like churches; of the Islam rites there is no external -evidence; while Turkish soldiers may be seen -escorting the viaticum through the streets. An uneducated -Christian might remain a year in Constantinople -without being aware that Mohammed, not -Christ, claimed the allegiance of the greater part of -the population; and this led me on to reflect upon -the slight nature of the fundamental difference—the -blade of grass, as the Abyssinian Christians called it in -speaking to the first followers of Mohammed—which -divides the two religions, and the trifling cause which -led Arabia to adopt Islamism instead of Christianity, -or, if not Christianity, at all events something so -closely resembling it that, even had it never developed -into that outright, it would have seriously -altered the destinies of the entire Eastern world. -This slight cause was nothing more or less than -the voluptuous nature of a certain handsome young -Arabian, tall, fair, ardent, with black eyes and musical -voice—he lacked the force to dominate his own<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218">218</a></span> -passions, and so, instead of cutting at the root of his -people’s prevailing sin, he contented himself with -pruning the branches, and in lieu of proclaiming -conjugal unity as he proclaimed the unity of God, -merely confined within somewhat narrower bounds, -and then proceeded to give the countenance of religion -to, the dissolute selfishness of men. No doubt -he would have had to encounter a more determined -opposition in the one case than in the other, but that -it was in his power to succeed who can question -when it is remembered that in order to establish the -worship of one sole God among a people given over -to idolatry he was obliged to first overthrow an enormous -superstructure of tradition and superstition, including -innumerable grants and privileges all closely -interlaced, the result of centuries of growth, and that -he made them accept, as one of the dogmas of his -religion for which millions of believers subsequently -died, a paradise which at its first announcement -aroused a universal feeling of scorn and indignation? -Unfortunately, however, this handsome young Arab -temporized with his passions, and as a consequence -the face of half the globe is changed, since polygamy -was, without doubt, the besetting vice of his rule -and the principal cause of the decadence of all those -races who have adopted his religion. It is the degradation -of one sex for the benefit of the other, -the open sanction of a glaring injustice which disturbs -the entire course of human rights, corrupts the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219">219</a></span> -rich, oppresses the poor, encourages ignorance, -breaks up the family, and by causing endless complications -in the rights of birth among the reigning -dynasties overturns kingdoms and states, finally -placing an insuperable barrier in the way of the union -of Mussulman society with the people of other faiths -who populate the East. If, to return to the original -proposition, that handsome young Arab had only -been endowed with a little more strength of character, -had the spiritual in his nature but outweighed, -by ever so small an amount, the animal, who knows?—perhaps -we would now have an Orient orderly, -well-governed, and the world be a century nearer -universal civilization.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Ramazan.</span></h3> - -<p>Happening to be in Constantinople in the month -of Ramazân, the ninth month in the Turkish calendar, -in which the twenty-eight days’ fast falls, I was able -to enjoy every evening a spectacle so exceedingly -comical that I think it merits a description. -Throughout the entire fast the Turks are forbidden -to eat, drink, or smoke from sunrise to sunset. Most -of them make it up by feasting all night, but as long -as the sun is shining the rule is very generally observed, -and no one dares, in public at any rate, to -transgress it.</p> - -<p>One morning my friend and I went to call upon a -friend of ours, a young aide-de-camp of the Sultan,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220">220</a></span> -who prided himself upon his liberal views. We -found him in one of the rooms on the ground floor -of the imperial palace with a cup of coffee in his -hand. “Why,” said Yunk, “how do you dare to -drink coffee hours after sunrise?” The young man -shrugged his shoulders, and remarked carelessly -that he did not care a fig for Ramazân or the fast; -but just at that moment, a door near by suddenly -opening, he was in such a hurry to hide the telltale -cup that half its contents were spilled at his feet. -One can readily imagine from this incident how -rigorously all those must abstain whose entire day -is passed beneath the public eye, the boatmen for instance. -To get a really good idea of it one should -stand on the Sultan Validéh bridge at about sunset. -What with the boats at the landings and those which -are going from one place to another, the ones near -at hand and those in the distance, there must be -very nearly a thousand in sight. Every boatman -has fasted since sunrise, and by this time is ravenously -hungry. His supper is all ready in the käik, -and his eyes travel constantly from it to where the -sun is nearing the horizon, and then back again, -while he has the restless, uneasy air of a wild animal -who paces about his cage as the feeding-hour -approaches. Sunset is announced by the firing of a -gun, and until that signal is heard not so much as -a crumb of bread or drop of water crosses the lips -of one of them. Sometimes in a retired spot<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221">221</a></span> -in the Golden Horn we would try to induce our -boatman to eat something, but the invariable answer -was, “Jok! jok! jok!” (No! no! no!), accompanied -by an uneasy gesture toward the western horizon. -When the sun gets about halfway down behind the -mountains the men begin to finger their pieces of -bread, inhaling its smell voluptuously. Then it gets -so low that nothing can be seen but a golden arc, -and the rowers lay down their oars. Those who are -busy and those who are idle, some midway across -the Golden Horn, some lying in retired inlets, others -on the Bosphorus, others over near the Asiatic -shore, others, again, who are plying on the Sea of -Marmora, one and all, turning toward the west, remain -immovable, their eyes fixed on the fast-disappearing -disk with mouth open, kindling eye, and -bread firmly clasped in the right hand. Now nothing -can be seen but a tiny point of fire: a thousand -hunks of bread are held close to a thousand mouths, -and then the fiery eye drops out of sight, the cannons -thunders, and on the instant thirty-two thousand -teeth tear a thousand huge mouthsful from a -thousand loaves! But why say a thousand, when in -every house and café and restaurant a similar scene -is being enacted at precisely the same moment, and -for a short time the Turkish city is nothing but a -huge monster whose hundred thousand jaws are all -tearing and devouring at once?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222">222</a></span></p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Ancient Constantinople.</span></h3> - -<p>But think what this city must have been in the -great days of the Ottoman glory! I kept thinking -of that all the time. How it must have looked when -not a single cloud of smoke arose from the Bosphorus, -all white with sails, to make ugly, black -marks against the blue of sky and water! In the -port and the inlets of the Sea of Marmora, among the -picturesque battle-ships of that period with their -lofty carved prows, silver crescents, violet standards, -and gilded lanterns, floated the battered and blood-stained -hulks of Spanish, Genoese, and Venetian -galleys. No bridges spanned the Golden Horn, -which was covered with myriads of gayly-decorated -boats plying constantly from one shore to the other, -among which could be distinguished afar off the -snowy-white launches of the Seraglio, covered with -gold-fringed scarlet hangings and propelled by -rowers dressed in silk. Skutari was then no more -than a village: seen from Galata, she only appeared -to have a few houses scattered about on the hillside; -no lofty palaces as yet reared their heads above the -hilltops of Pera; the appearance of the city was -doubtless less impressive than now, but far more -Oriental in character: the law prescribing the use -of colors being then in full force, one could determine -accurately the religion of the occupant from -the color of each house. Except for its public and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223">223</a></span> -sacred edifices, which were white as snow, Stambul -was entirely red and yellow; the Armenian quarters -were light, and the Greek quarters dark gray; the -Hebrew quarter, purple. As in Holland, the passion -for flowers was universal, so that the gardens were -like huge bouquets of hyacinths, tulips, and roses. -The exuberant vegetation not having been as yet -checked on the surrounding hillsides by the growth -of new suburbs, Constantinople presented the appearance -of a city built in a forest. The public -thoroughfares were nothing but lanes and alleys, but -they were rendered picturesque by the varied and -brilliant crowds which thronged them. The huge -turbans worn by the men lent them all an air of -dignity and importance. The women, with the single -exception of the Sultan’s mother, were so rigorously -veiled as to show nothing but the eyes, and so formed -a population apart, anonymous, enigmatical, which -lent to the entire city a certain air of secresy and -mystery. Severe laws controlled the dress of every -individual, so that from the shape of his turban or -color of his caftan one could tell the precise rank, -occupation, office, or condition of every one he met, -as though the city had been one great court. The -horse being as yet almost “man’s only coach,” -thousands of cavaliers filled the crowded streets, -while long files of camels and dromedaries belonging -to the army traversed the city in all directions, giving -it something of the savage and imposing air of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224">224</a></span> -an ancient Asiatic metropolis. Gilded arabas, drawn -by oxen, passed carriages hung with the green -cloth of the <i>ulemi</i> or scarlet cloth of the <i>kâdi-aschieri</i>, -and light <i>talike</i> hung with satin and fantastically -painted. Troops of slaves marched along, representing -every country from Polonia to Ethiopia, -clanking the chains riveted on them in the field of -battle. On the street-corners, in the squares and the -courtyards of the mosques, groups of soldiers collected, -clad in glorious rags, displaying their battered -arms and scars still fresh from wounds received -at Vienna, Belgrade, Rodi, and Damascus. -Hundreds of orators recounted to rapt and enthusiastic -audiences the heroic deeds and brilliant victories -achieved by the army fighting at a distance -of three months’ march from Stambul. Pasha, bey, -agha, musselim, numberless dignitaries and personages -of high rank, clad with theatrical display and -accompanied by throngs of attendants, made their -way through the crowds, who bowed before them -like grain before the wind. Ambassadors representing -every court in Europe, accompanied by princely -retinues, who had come to Stambul to sue for peace -or arrange an alliance, swept by. Caravans laden -with propitiatory gifts from Asiatic and African -kings filed slowly along the principal thoroughfares. -Companies of <i>silidars</i> and <i>spahis</i>, haughty and insolent, -swaggered by, their sabres stained with the -blood of twenty different nations, while the handsome<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225">225</a></span> -Greek and Hungarian Seraglio pages, dressed -like little kings, pushed haughtily through the obsequious -multitude, who, recognizing in them the -unnatural caprices of their lord, respected them accordingly. -Here and there a trophy of knotted -clubs before some doorway indicated the presence -of a corps of Janissaries, who at that time acted -as police in the interior of the city. Parties of -Hebrews would be seen hurrying to the Bosphorus -with the dead bodies of the victims of justice. -Every morning a body would be found in the Baluk -Bazâr, lying with the head under the right armpit, -a stone holding in place the sentence affixed to the -breast. Law-breakers to whom summary justice -had been meted out would dangle from a beam or -hook in the public highway, while after nightfall one -was liable to stumble over the body of some unfortunate -who, after having his hands and feet pounded -with clubs, had been thrown from the window of the -torture-chamber. In the broad light of day merchants, -caught in the act of cheating, would be -nailed through the ear to their own shop-doors, and, -there being no law controlling the free right of sepulture, -the work of digging graves and burying the -dead was carried on at all hours and in all places—in -the gardens, in the lanes and open squares, and -before the doors of dwellings. The cries of lambs -and sheep could be heard from the courtyards where -they were being slaughtered in sacrifice to Allah on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226">226</a></span> -the occasion of a circumcision or a birth. From -time to time a troop of eunuchs, galloping by with -warning cries, would be the signal for a general -stampede; the streets would become deserted; doors -and windows fly to, blinds be drawn down, and an -entire neighborhood suddenly assume the look and -air of a city of the dead. Then in long procession -files of gorgeously-decorated coaches filled with the -ladies of the imperial harem would pass by, scattering -around them an atmosphere of perfume and -laughter. Sometimes it would happen that an official -of the court, making his way through some -thoroughfare, would suddenly encounter six quite -ordinary-looking individuals about to enter a shop, -and at that sight grow unaccountably pale. These -six, however, would be the Sultan, four officers of -his court, and an executioner making their rounds -from shop to shop in order to verify the weights and -measures.</p> - -<div id="if_i_226" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_226.jpg" width="600" height="434" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Interior of Mosque of Ahmed.</div></div> - -<p>Throughout the whole of the city’s huge body -there coursed an exuberant and feverish life; the -treasury overflowed with jewels, the arsenal with -arms, the barracks with soldiers, the caravanseries -with strangers; the slave-market was thronged with -merchants and lofty personages come to inspect the -crowds of beautiful slaves. Scholars pressed to examine -the archives of the great mosques; long-winded -viziers prepared for the delectation of future -generations the interminable annals of the Empire;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227">227</a></span> -poets, pensioned by the Seraglio, assembled in the -baths, where they sang the imperial loves and wars; -swarms of Bulgarian and Armenian workmen toiled -at the erection of mighty mosques, employing huge -blocks of granite and Paros marble, while by sea, -columns from the temples of the Archipelago, and -by land, spoils from the churches of Pesth and Ofen, -were brought to contribute to their splendor. In -the harbor a fleet of three hundred sail made ready -to carry terror and dismay to every coast in the -Mediterranean; between Stambul and Adrianapolis -companies of falconers and gamekeepers, to the -number of seven thousand, were stationed; and in -the intervals between military uprisings at home, -foreign wars, and conflagrations which would reduce -twenty thousand houses to ashes in a single night, -revels would be celebrated, lasting thirty days, in -honor of the representatives of every court in Asia, -Africa, and Europe. On these occasions the glorifications -of the Mussulmans degenerated into folly: -sham battles were fought by the Janissaries in the -presence of the Sultan and the court, amid huge -<i>palme di nozze</i> laden with birds, mirrors, and fruits -of various kinds, in order to make room for which -walls and houses were ruthlessly destroyed; and processions -of lions and sugar mermaids, borne on -horses whose trappings were of silver damask, and -mountains of royal gifts sent from every part of the -Empire and every court in the world; dervishes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228">228</a></span> -executed their furious dances, and bloody massacres -of Christian prisoners were followed by public banquets -where ten thousand dishes of <i>cuscussù</i> were -served to the populace; trained elephants and giraffes -danced in the Hippodrome, while bears and wolves, -with fireworks tied to their tails, were let loose -among the people; allegorical pantomimes, grotesque -masquerades, wanton dances, fantastic processions, -games, comedies, symbolic cars, rustic dances, -followed each other in rapid succession. Little by -little as night descended the festival degenerated -into a mad orgy, and then the lights from five hundred -brilliantly illuminated mosques spread a great -aureole of fire over the entire city and announced to -the watching shepherds on the mountain-heights of -Asia and the wayfarers on the Propontis the revels -of this new Babylon.</p> - -<p>Such was once Stambul, a haughty sultaness, -voluptuous, formidable, wanton, as compared with -which the city of to-day is little more than some -weary old queen, peevish and hypochondriacal.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Armenians.</span></h3> - -<p>Absorbed as I was by the Turks, I had, as may -be readily understood, but little time left in which -to study the characteristics of the three other nationalities—Armenian, -Greek, and Hebrew—which -go to make up the population of Constantinople—a -study requiring a certain amount of time, too, since<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229">229</a></span> -all of these people, while preserving to a certain extent -their national character, have outwardly conformed -to the prevailing Mussulman coloring around -them, now in its turn fading into a uniform tint of -European civilization. Thus it is as difficult to catch -a vivid impression of any one of the three as it would -be of a view that was constantly changing. This is -true in a special sense of the Armenians, “Christians -in spirit and faith, Asiatic Mussulmans by birth and -carnal nature,” whom it is not only hard to study intimately, -but even to distinguish at sight, since those -among them who have not adopted the European -costume dress like Turks in all except some very minor -points. All of them have abandoned the ancient -felt cap which was formerly, with certain special -colors, the distinctive sign of their nation. In appearance -they closely resemble the Turks, being for -the most part tall, robust, and corpulent, with a grave, -sedate carriage, but their complexion is light, and -the two striking points of their national character -can usually be read in their faces—the one, a quick, -open, industrious, and persevering spirit, which fits -them in a peculiar way to commercial enterprises; -and the other that adaptability, called by some servility, -which enables them to gain a foothold among -whatever people they may be thrown with from -Hungary to China, and renders them particularly -acceptable to the Turks, whose confidence they -readily succeed in winning, making them faithful<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230">230</a></span> -subjects and obsequious friends. There is nothing -heroic or bellicose either about their appearance or -disposition: formerly this may have been otherwise. -Those parts of Asia whence they came are at present -inhabited by a people, descendants of a common -stock, who, it is said, resemble them but little. -Certainly those members of the race who have been -transplanted to the shores of the Bosphorus are a -prudent and managing people, moderate in their -manner of life, intent only upon their trade, and -more sincerely religious, it is affirmed, than any -other nation which inhabits Constantinople. They -are called by the Turks the “camels of the Empire,” -and the Franks assert that every Armenian -is born an accountant. These two sayings are, to -a great extent justified by the facts, since, thanks -to their great physical strength and their quickness -and intelligence, they furnish, in addition to a large -proportion of her architects, engineers, doctors, and -clever and painstaking mechanics, the greater part -of Constantinople’s bankers and porters, the former -amassing fabulous fortunes, and the latter carrying -enormous loads. At first sight, though, one would -hardly be aware that there was an Armenian population -in Constantinople, so completely has the plant, -so to speak, assumed the color of the soil. Their -women, on whose account the house of the Armenian -is almost as rigorously closed to strangers as that of -the Mussulman, have likewise adopted the Turkish<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231">231</a></span> -dress, and none but the most expert eye could distinguish -them among their Mohammedan neighbors. -They are generally fair and stout, with the aquiline -Oriental profile, large eyes and long lashes; many -of them are tall, with matronly figures, and, surmounted -by turbans, might well be mistaken for -handsome sheiks. They are universally modest and -dignified in their bearing, and if anything is lacking -it is the intelligence which beams from the eyes of -their Greek sisters.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Greeks.</span></h3> - -<p>Difficult as it may be to single out the Armenian -at sight, there is no such trouble about the Greek, -who differs so essentially in character, bearing, appearance, -everything, from all the other subjects of -the Empire that he can be told at once without -even looking at his dress. To appreciate this diversity, -or rather contrast, one need only watch a -Turk and a Greek who happen to be seated beside -one another on board a steamboat or in a café. They -may be about the same age and rank, both dressed -in the European fashion, and even resemble each -other somewhat in feature, and yet it is quite impossible -to mistake them. The Turk sits perfectly motionless; -his face wears a look of quietude and repose, -void of all expression, like a fed animal; if by -any chance some shadow of a thought appears, it -seems to be a reflection as lifeless and inert as his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232">232</a></span> -body; he looks at no one, and is apparently quite -unconscious that any one is looking at him, expressing -by his entire bearing an utter indifference to his -surroundings, a something of the resigned melancholy -of a slave and the cold pride of a despot; -hard, closed, completed, he seems incapable of altering -any resolution once taken, and it would drive -any one to the verge of madness who should undertake -the task of persuading him to any course. In -short, he appears to be a being hewn out of a single -block, with whom it would only be possible to live -either as master or servant, and no amount of intercourse -with whom would ever justify the taking of a -liberty. With the Greek it is altogether different. -His mobile features express every thought that -passes through his mind, and betray a youthful, -almost childish ardor, while he tosses his head with -the free action of an uncurbed and restive horse. -On finding himself observed he at once strikes an -attitude, and if no one looks at him he tries to attract -attention; he seems to be always wanting or -imagining something, and his whole person breathes -of shrewdness and ambition. There is something -so attractive and sympathetic about him that you are -inclined to give him your hand even when you would -hesitate about trusting him with your purse. Seen -side by side, one can readily understand how it is -that one of these men considers the other a proud, -overbearing, brutal savage, and is looked down upon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233">233</a></span> -in his turn as a light creature, untrustworthy, mischievous, -and the cause of endless trouble, and how -they mutually despise and hate one another from the -bottom of their hearts, finding it impossible to live -together in peace. And so with the women. It is -with a distinct feeling of gratification and pleasure -that one first encounters amid the handsome, florid -Turkish and Armenian types, appealing more to the -senses than the mind, the pure and exquisite features -of the Greek women, illuminated by those deep -serious eyes whose every glance recalls an ode, -while their exquisite shapes inspire an immediate -desire to clasp them in one’s arms—with the object -of placing them on pedestals, however, rather than in -the harem. Among them can still be occasionally -found one or two who, wearing their hair after the -ancient fashion—that is, hanging over the shoulders -in long wavy locks, with one thick coil wound around -the top of the head like a diadem—are so noble-looking, -so beautiful and classic, that they might well be -taken for statues fresh from the chisel of a Praxiteles -or a Lysippus, or for youthful immortals discovered -after twenty centuries in some forgotten valley of -Laconia or unknown island of the Egean. But even -among the Greeks these examples of queenly beauty -are exceedingly rare, and are found only in the ranks -of the old aristocracy of the Empire, in the silent -and melancholy quarter of Fanar, where the spirit -of ancient Byzantium has taken refuge. There one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234">234</a></span> -may occasionally see one of these magnificent women -leaning on the railing of a balcony or against the -grating of some lofty window, her eyes fixed upon -the deserted street in the attitude of an imprisoned -queen; and when a crowd of lackeys is not lounging -idly before the door of one of these descendants of -the Palæologi and the Comneni, one may, watching -her from some place of observation, fancy that a rift -in the clouds has revealed for an instant the face of -an Olympian goddess.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Hebrews.</span></h3> - -<p>With regard to the Hebrews I am prepared to -assert, having been to Morocco myself, that those of -Constantinople have nothing in common with their -fellows of the northern coast of Africa, where observing -experts say they have discovered in all its -primitive purity the original Oriental type of Hebrew -beauty. In the hope of finding some traces of this -same beauty, I summoned up all my courage and -thoroughly explored the vast Ghetto of Balata, -which winds like an unclean reptile along the banks -of the Golden Horn. I penetrated into the most -wretched purlieus, among hovels “encrusted with -mould” like the shores of the Dantesque pool; -through passageways which nothing would induce -me to enter again except on stilts, and, holding my -nose; I peered through windows hung with filthy -rags into dark, malodorous rooms; paused before<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235">235</a></span> -damp courtyards exhaling a smell of mould and -decay strong enough to take one’s breath away; -pushed my way through groups of scrofulous children; -brushed up against horrible old men who -looked as though they had died of the plague and -come to life again; avoiding now a dog covered -with sores, now a pool of black mud, dodging under -rows of loathsome rags hung from greasy cords, -or stumbling over heaps of decaying stuff whose -smell was enough to make one faint outright. And, -after all, my heroism met with no reward. Among -all the many women whom I encountered wearing -the national kalpak—an article resembling a sort of -elongated turban, covering the hair and ears—I saw, -it is true, some faces in which could be discovered -that delicate regularity of feature and the expression -of gentle resignation which are supposed to characterize -the Constantinopolitan Jewess; some vague -profiles of a Rebecca or a Rachel, with almond-shaped -eyes full of a soft sweetness; an occasional -graceful, erect figure standing in Raphaelesque attitude -in an open doorway, with one delicate hand -resting lightly on the curly head of a child; but for -the most part my investigations revealed nothing -but discouraging evidences of the degradation of the -race. What a contrast between those pinched faces -and the piercing eyes, brilliant coloring, and well-rounded -forms which aroused my admiration a year -later in the <i>Mellà</i> of Tangiers and Fez!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236">236</a></span> -And the men—thin, yellow, stunted, all their vitality -seems centred in their bright cunning eyes, -never still for a moment, but which roll restlessly -about as though constantly attracted by the sound -of chinking money.</p> - -<p>At this point I am quite prepared to hear my -kind critics among the Israelites—who have already -rapped me over the knuckles in regard to their co-religionists -of Morocco—take up the burden of their -song, laying all the blame of the degeneration and -degradation of the Hebrews of Constantinople at the -door of the Turkish oppressor. But it should be -remembered that the other non-Mussulman subjects -of the Porte are all on a precisely similar footing, -both political and civil, with themselves; and, even -were it otherwise, they would find some difficulty in -proving that the filthy habits, early marriages, and -complete abandonment of every sort of hard work, -considered as primal causes of that degeneration, -are the logical results of the loss of liberty and independence. -And should they assert that it is not so -much Turkish oppression as the universal scorn and -petty persecutions which they have had to endure -on all hands that have brought about such complete -loss of self-respect, let them pause and first ask -themselves if the exact opposite may not be nearer -the truth, and the general obloquy in which they are -held be not so much the cause as the result of their -manner of life; and then, instead of trying to cover<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237">237</a></span> -up the sore, themselves be the ones to apply the -knife.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Bath.</span></h3> - -<p>After making the tour of Balata the most appropriate -thing to take next seems to be a Turkish -bath. The bath-houses may be easily recognized -from without: they are small, mosque-shaped buildings, -without windows, surmounted by cupolas, and -have high conical chimneys, from which smoke is -constantly rising. So much for the exterior, but he -who desires to penetrate farther and explore the -mysteries of the interior would do well to pause and -ask himself, <i>Quid valeant humeri?</i> since not every -one is able to endure the <i>aspro governo</i> to which he -who enters those salutary walls must be subjected. I -am free to confess that, after all I had been told, I -approached them with some feeling of trepidation, -which I think the reader will admit was not wholly -unjustifiable before he has done. As I recall it all -now, two great drops of perspiration stand out on -my forehead, ready to roll down when I shall be in -the heat of my description. Here then is what was -done to my unhappy person. Entering timidly, I -find myself in a large apartment which leaves one -in doubt for a few moments as to whether he has -gotten by mistake into a theatre or a hospital. A -fountain plays in the centre, decorated on top with -flowers; a wooden gallery runs all around the walls,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238">238</a></span> -upon which some Turks, stretched upon mattresses -and enveloped from head to foot in snow-white -cloths, either slumber profoundly or smoke in a -dreamy state between waking and sleeping. Looking -about for some attendant, I become suddenly -aware of two robust mulattoes, stripped to the -waist, who appear from nowhere like spectres and -ask in deep tones and both together, “<i>Hammamun?</i>” -(bath?). “<i>Evvet</i>” (yes), I reply in a very -weak voice. Motioning me to follow, they lead the -way up a small wooden stair to a room filled with -mats and cushions, where I am given to understand -that I must undress, after which they proceed to -wrap a strip of blue and white stuff about my loins, -tie my head up in a piece of muslin, and, placing a -pair of huge slippers on my feet, grasp me under the -arms like a drunken man, and conduct, or rather -drag, me into another room, warm and half lighted, -where, after laying me on a rug, they stand with -arms akimbo, waiting until my skin shall have become -moist. These preparations, so distressingly -suggestive of some approaching punishment, fill me -with a vague uneasiness, which changes into something -even less admirable when the two cutthroats, -after touching me on the forehead, exchange a -meaning glance, as who should say, “Suppose he -resists?” and then, as though exclaiming, “To the -rack!” again seize me by the arms and lead me -into a third room. This apartment makes a very<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239">239</a></span> -singular impression at first sight: it is as though -one found himself in a subterranean temple, where, -through clouds of vapor, high marble walls, rows of -columns, arches, and a lofty vaulted roof, can be indistinctly -seen, colored green and blue and crimson -by the rays of light falling from the cupola, white -spectral figures slide noiselessly back and forth close -to the walls. In the centre half-naked forms are extended -upon the pavement, while others, also half -naked, bend over them in the attitude of doctors -making an autopsy. The temperature is such that -no sooner have we entered than I break out into a -profuse perspiration, and it seems most probable -that should I ever get out at all it will be in the form -of a running stream like the lover of Arethusa.</p> - -<p>The two mulattoes convey my body to the centre -of the room and deposit it upon a sort of anatomical -table consisting of a raised slab of white marble, -beneath which are the stoves. The marble, being -extremely hot, burns me and I see stars, but, as long -as I am there, there is no choice but to go through -with the penalty. My two attendants accordingly -begin the <i>vivisection</i>, and, chanting a sort of funeral -dirge the while, pinch my arms and legs, stretch my -muscles, make my joints crack, pound me, rub me, -maul me, and then, rolling me over on my face, -begin over again, only to put me on my back later -and recommence the whole process. They knead -and work me like a dough figure to which they want<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240">240</a></span> -to give a certain form they have in mind, and, not -succeeding, have grown angry with; a slight pause -for breath is only followed by renewed pinching, -pulling, and pounding, until I begin to fear that my -last hour is drawing near; and then finally, when -my entire body is streaming with perspiration like a -wet sponge, the blood coursing furiously through -my veins, and it has become evident that I have -reached the last limit of endurance, they gather up -my remains from that bed of torment and carry -them to a corner, where in a small alcove are a -basin and two spigots from which hot and cold water -are running. But, alas! fresh martyrdom awaits me -here; and really the affair at this point begins to -assume so serious an aspect that, joking aside, I -consider whether it would not be possible to strike -out to right and left, and, just as I am, make a break -for life and liberty. It is too late, though: one of -my tormentors, putting on a camel’s-hair glove, has -fallen to rubbing my back, breast, arms, and legs -with the same cheerful energy a lively groom might -employ in currying a horse; after this has been prolonged -for fully five minutes a stream of tepid water is -poured down my back, and I take breath and return -devout thanks to Heaven that it is all over at last. -I soon find, however, that this is premature: that -ferocious mulatto, taking the glove off, promptly -falls to once more with his bare hand, until, losing -all patience, I sign to him to stop, with the result<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241">241</a></span> -that, exhibiting his hand, he proves to his own entire -satisfaction and my complete bewilderment that -he must still continue, and does so. Next follows -another deluge of water, and after that a fresh operation: -each of them, now taking a piece of tow -cloth, rubs a quantity of Candia soap upon it, and -then proceeds to soap me well from head to foot; -then another torrent of perfumed water, followed by -the tow cloths again, but, Heaven be praised! without -soap this time, and the process is one of drying me -off. When this has been accomplished they tie up -my head again, wrap the cloth about my body, and -then, enveloping me in a large sheet, reconduct me -to the second room, where I am allowed to rest a -few moments before being taken to the first; here a -warm mattress is in readiness, upon which I stretch -myself luxuriously. The two instruments of justice -give a few final pinches to equalize the circulation -of blood throughout all my members, and then, -placing an embroidered cushion under my head, a -white covering over me, a pipe in my mouth, and a -glass of lemonade at my side, depart, leaving me -light, fresh, airy, perfumed, with a mind serene, -a contented heart, and such a sense of youth and -vitality that I feel as though, like Venus, I had just -been born from the foam of the sea, and seem -to hear the wings of the loves fluttering above my -head.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242">242</a></span></p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Serasker Tower.</span></h3> - -<p>Feeling thus “airy and meet for intercourse with -the stars,” one could not do better than ascend to the -top of that stone Titan called the Serasker Tower. -I think that should Satan again undertake to offer a -view of the kingdoms of the world by way of a temptation, -his best course would be to select this spot -for the enterprise. The tower, built in the reign of -Mahmûd II., is planted upon the summit of the -most lofty hill in Stambul, on that spot in the centre -of the vast courtyard of the War Office called by the -Turks the <i>umbilicus</i> of the city. It is constructed -mainly of white Marmora marble, on the plan of a -regular polygon with sixteen sides, and rears itself -aloft, erect, and graceful as a column, overtopping to -a considerable extent the gigantic minarets of the -adjacent mosque of Suleiman. Ascending a winding -stair lighted here and there by square windows, you -catch fleeting views now of Galata, now of Stambul -or the villages on the Golden Horn, and before you -are halfway to the top seem already to have reached -the region of the clouds. It may happen that a -slight noise is heard directly over your head, and -almost at the same instant a something flashes by, -apparently an object of some sort being hurled headlong -from above; but, in reality, one of the guards stationed -day and night on the summit to watch for fires -and give the alarm, who, having discovered at some<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243">243</a></span> -distant point of the horizon a cloud of suspicious-looking -smoke, is taking word to the seraskier. -After mounting about two hundred steps you reach -a sort of covered terrace running all around the -tower and enclosed with glass, where an attendant -is always at hand to serve visitors with coffee. On -first finding yourself in that transparent cage, suspended -as it were between heaven and earth, with -nothing to be seen but an immense blue space, -and the wind howling and rattling the panes of -glass and making the boards strain and creak, you -are very apt to be attacked with vertigo and to feel -strongly tempted to give up the view; but at sight -of the ladder which leads to the window in the roof -courage returns, and, climbing up with a beating -heart, a cry of astonishment escapes you. It is an -overpowering moment, and for a little while you remain -silent and transfixed.</p> - -<div id="if_i_240" class="figcenter" style="width: 476px;"> - <img src="images/i_240.jpg" width="476" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Entrance and Tower of Seraskier.</div></div> - -<p>Constantinople lies spread out before you like a -map, and with the turn of an eye the entire extent -of the mighty metropolis can be embraced—all the -hills and valleys of Stambul from the Castle of the -Seven Towers to the cemetery of Eyûb; all Galata, -all Pera, as though you could drop your sight down -into them like a plumb-line; all Skutari as though it -lay directly beneath you—three lines of buildings, -groves, and shipping, extending as far as the eye -can reach along three shores of indescribable beauty, -and other stretches of garden and village winding<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244">244</a></span> -away inland until they fade out of view in the distance; -the entire length of the Golden Horn, smooth -and glassy, dotted over with innumerable käiks, -which look like bright-colored flies swimming about -on the surface of the water; all of the Bosphorus -too, but, owing to the hills which run out into it -here and there, it looks like a series of lakes, and -each lake seems to be surrounded by a city, and -each city festooned about with gardens: beyond the -Bosphorus lies the Black Sea, whose blue surface -melts into the sky; in the opposite direction are the -Sea of Marmora, the Gulf of Nicomedia [Ismid], -the Isles of the Princes, and the two coasts of Asia -and Europe, white with villages; beyond the Sea of -Marmora lie the Dardanelles, shining like a silver -ribbon, and beyond them again a dazzling white -light indicates the Ægean Sea, with a dark line -showing the position of the Troad; beyond Skutari -are seen Bithynia and the Olympus; beyond Stambul -the brown undulating solitudes of Thrace; two -gulfs, two straits, two continents, three seas, twenty -cities, myriads of silver cupolas with gilded pinnacles, -a glory of light, an exuberance of color, until -you doubt whether it is indeed your own planet -spread out before you or some other heavenly body -more highly favored by God.</p> - -<h3><span class="smcap">Constantinople.</span></h3> - -<p>And so on the Serasker Tower I asked myself, as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245">245</a></span> -I had already done over and over again on the old -bridge, the Tower of Galata, at Skutari, how I could -ever have been so infatuated with Holland; and not -only did Holland now seem a poor dull place which -one would tire of in a month, but Paris, Madrid, Seville -as well. And then I would think miserably of -my wretched descriptions—how often I had used the -expressions superb, beautiful, magnificent, until now -there were none left for this surpassing view; and -yet at the same time I knew I would never be willing -to subtract a syllable from what I had said -about those other parts of Constantinople. My -friend Rossasco would say, “Well, why don’t you -try this?” To which I would reply, “But suppose -I have nothing to say?” And indeed, incredible as -it sounds, there really were times when, in certain -lights and at certain hours of the day, the view did -look almost poor, and I would exclaim in dismay, -“What has become of my beloved Constantinople?” -At others I would experience a feeling of sadness to -think that while I had that immensity of space, -that prodigality of beauty, spread out before me for -the asking, my mother was sitting in a little room -from which nothing could be seen but a dull courtyard -and narrow strip of sky, as though I must -somehow be to blame; and feel that I would give -an eye to have my dear old lady on my arm and -carry her off to see St. Sophia. As a rule, however, -the days flew by as lightly and gayly as the hours at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246">246</a></span> -a feast, and when, by any chance, my friend and I -were attacked by ill-humor, we had a sure and certain -method of curing ourselves. Going to Galata, -we would jump into the two most gayly-decorated -two-oared käiks at the landing, and, calling out, -“Eyûb!” presto, before we knew it, would find ourselves -in the middle of the Golden Horn. The -oarsmen, Mahmûds or Bayezids or Ibrahims, about -twenty years old or so, and endowed with arms of -iron, would usually amuse themselves by racing, -keeping up a series of shouts and cries and laughing -like children. Above, a cloudless sky, below a -smooth transparent sea; throwing back our heads, we -would inhale great breaths of the delicious scented -air, and trail one hand over the side in the soft clear -water. On fly the two käiks; palaces, gardens, -kiosks, and mosques glide by; we seem to be borne -on the wings of the wind across an enchanted world, -and are blissfully conscious that we are young and at -Stambul. Yunk sings, and I, while reciting half -aloud some one of Victor Hugo’s ballads of the -East, can see now on the right hand and now on -the left, near by, afar off, a beloved face crowned -with white hair which wears a tender smile and tells -me, as plainly as though it were a voice speaking, -that she appreciates and fully shares all my enjoyment.</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247">247</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="h_247">ST. SOPHIA.</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249">249</a></span> -And now, if even a poor writer of travels may be -allowed to invoke his Muse, I do most certainly invoke -mine with bent knee and clasped hands, for, -verily my mind grows bewildered, “<i>in faccia al -nobile subbietto</i>,” and the majestic outlines of the -great Byzantine basilica tremble before my vision -like images reflected in the water. May the Muse -inspire me, St. Sophia illumine me, and the emperor -Justinian pardon me!</p> - -<div id="if_i_242" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_242.jpg" width="600" height="411" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Entrance to St. Sophia.</div></div> - -<p>It was a fine morning in October when we at last -set forth, accompanied by a Turkish <i>cavas</i> from the -Italian consulate and a Greek dragoman, to visit the -terrestrial Paradise, second firmament, car of the -cherubim, throne of the glory of God, wonder of the -world, the greatest temple on earth after St. Peter’s. -This last expression, as my friends of Burgos, -Cologne, Milan, and Florence must know, is of -course not my own, nor would I ever dare to make -it so: I merely quote it among the rest as one of the -many terms consecrated by the enthusiasm of the -Greeks which our dragoman repeated to us as we -passed along the streets. We had purposely supplemented<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250">250</a></span> -him by the old Turkish cavas in the -hope—and we were not disappointed—that their two -accounts might bring vividly before us the struggle -between the two religions, histories, and nations, the -legends and explanations of one magnifying the -Church, those of the other the Mosque, in such a -manner as to make us see St. Sophia as she should -be seen; that is to say, with one eye Christian and -the other Turkish.</p> - -<p>My expectations were very great and my curiosity -was all on fire, and yet I realized then, as I do now, -that the actual sight of a world-renowned object, no -matter how fully it may justify its reputation, never -quite comes up to the keen enjoyment one experiences -when on his way to see it. If I could live -over again one hour out of each of those days on which -I saw some great sight for the first time, I would unhesitatingly -choose the one which intervenes between -the moment of saying, “Now let us start,” -and that in which the goal is reached. Those are -the traveller’s most blissful hours. As you walk -along you can feel your soul expand, preparing, as -it were, to receive the streams of enthusiasm and -delight soon to well up in it. You recall your boyhood’s -dreams, which then seemed so hopelessly far -from realization; you remember how a certain old -professor of geography, after pointing out Constantinople -on the map of Europe, traced the outline of -the great basilica in the air, a pinch of snuff between<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251">251</a></span> -his thumb and fore finger; you see that room, -that hearth, in front of which, during the coming -winter, you will describe to a circle of wondering -and attentive faces the famous building; you hear -that name, St. Sophia, ringing in your head, your -heart, your ears like the voice of a living person -who calls, and awaits your coming to reveal some -mighty secret: you see above your head dim, prodigious -outlines of arch and pilaster and column, -mighty buildings which reach to the heavens, and -when, at last, but a few steps more are wanted to -bring you face to face with the reality, you linger to -examine a pebble, watch the passage of a lizard, tell -some trifling anecdote—anything that may serve to -postpone, if but for a few seconds, that moment to -which for twenty years you have been looking forward, -and which you will remember for the rest of -your life. And, truly, if you take away what goes -before and what follows after, not so very much remains -of the much-talked-of joys of seeing and admiring. -It is almost always a delusion, followed by -a slight awakening, after which we obstinately delude -ourselves again.</p> - -<div id="if_i_248" class="figcenter" style="width: 465px;"> - <img src="images/i_248.jpg" width="465" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Fountain of Ahmed.</div></div> - -<p>The mosque of St. Sophia stands opposite the -main entrance of the old Seraglio. On reaching, -however, the open square which lies between the -two, the first object to attract attention is, not the -mosque, but the famous fountain of Sultan Ahmed -III., one of the richest and most characteristic examples<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252">252</a></span> -of Turkish art. This exquisite little building -is not so much a monument as a caress in marble -imprinted in a moment of passionate adoration by an -enamored sultan upon the forehead of his beloved -Stambul. I doubt if any but a woman’s pen can do -it justice: mine, I feel convinced, is far too coarse -and heavy to trace those delicate outlines. At first -sight it hardly looks like a fountain at all, being in -the form of a little square temple with a Chinese -roof, whose undulating rim extends for some distance -beyond the walls, and lends to the whole something -of the character of a pagoda. At each corner rises -a round tower furnished with small screened windows, -or, rather, they are more like four charming -kiosks, corresponding to the graceful cupolas on -the roof which encircle the main central cupola. -In each of the four walls are two niches, flanking a -pointed arch, beneath which the water flows from -a spout into a small basin. Around the edifice there -runs an inscription which reads as follows: “This -fountain speaks to you in the following verse by -Sultan Ahmed: Turn the key of this pure and tranquil -spring and call upon the name of God; drink -of these inexhaustible and limpid waters and pray -for the Sultan.” The little building is composed -entirely of white marble, which, however, is almost -hidden beneath the mass of ornamentation with -which its walls are covered—arches, niches, tiny -columns, roses, polygons, garlands, fretwork, gilding<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253">253</a></span> -on a background of blue. Carving around the -cupolas, inlaid-work below the roof, mosaics of a -hundred different combinations of color, arabesques -of every conceivable form,—all seem to vie with one -another to attract attention and arouse admiration, -until one’s powers of seeing and admiring are well-nigh -exhausted. Not so much as a hand’s breadth -of space is left free from carving, painting, gilding, -or ornament of some sort. It is a prodigy of richness, -beauty, and patience, which should, by rights, -be preserved under a glass case; and, as though it -were too perfect to delight but one sense alone, you -are tempted to break off a piece and put it in your -mouth, feeling that it must taste good as well—a -casket designed, as one would suppose, to guard -some priceless treasure, and you long to open it and -find the—what? Infant goddess, magic ring, or -fabulous pearl. Time has to some extent faded the -brilliant colors, dimmed the gilding, and darkened -the marble; think, then, what this colossal jewel -must have been when first unveiled, all fresh and -sparkling, before the eyes of the Solomon of -the Bosphorus a hundred and sixty years ago! But, -old and faded as it is, it undoubtedly occupies the -first place among the lesser wonders of Constantinople, -and is, moreover, an object so distinctively -Turkish that, once seen, it claims a prominent position -among that certain number of others which will -dwell for ever in one’s memory, ready to rise up at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254">254</a></span> -the sound of the word “Stambul;” the background -for all time against which will be thrown out one’s -dreams and visions of the Orient.</p> - -<p>Looking across from the fountain, St. Sophia can -be seen occupying one side of the intervening -square. About the exterior there is nothing especially -noteworthy. The only points which attract -the eye are the lofty white minarets, which rise at -the four corners from pedestals each the size of a -house. The celebrated dome looks small, and it -seems impossible that this can be the same as that -which we are wont to see, from the Bosphorus -and Sea of Marmora and the hillsides of Asia, -rearing its mighty form like the head of some Titan -against the blue heavens. It is a flattened dome -overlaid with lead, flanked by two semi-domes, -and pierced at the base by a row of small windows. -The four walls which support it are painted in -broad bands of white and red and strengthened by -enormous masses of masonry. A number of mean-looking -buildings, baths, schools, hospitals, mausoleums, -and soup-kitchens, crowd around the base -and effectually conceal the ancient architectural form -of the basilica. Nothing can be seen but a heavy, -irregular edifice, faded and bare as a fortress, and -apparently totally inadequate to embrace the mighty -expanse of St. Sophia’s great nave. Of the original -basilica only the dome is visible, and even that has -been despoiled of the silver splendor which, according<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255">255</a></span> -to the Greeks, could once be seen from the summit -of the Olympus. All the rest is Mussulman: -one minaret was erected by Muhammad the Conqueror, -another by Selim II., the two others by the -Third Murad, the same who toward the close of the -sixteenth century added the buttresses to strengthen -the walls shaken by an earthquake, and placed the -huge bronze crescent on the summit of the dome, -the gilding alone of which cost fifty thousand ducats. -The ancient atrium has disappeared, and the baptistry -has been converted into a mausoleum where are interred -the remains of Mustafa I. and Ibrahim, while -nearly every one of the other small buildings which -adjoined the Greek church have been either destroyed -outright or else, by the erection of new -walls or some other alteration, changed past recognition: -on all sides the mosque crowds, pushes, and -bears down upon the church, of which the head -alone remains free, and even around that the imperial -minarets mount guard like four gigantic sentinels. -On the east side there is a doorway flanked -by six marble and porphyry columns; another on -the south leads into a courtyard surrounded by low, -irregular buildings, in the midst of which a fountain -for ablutions plays beneath a little arched canopy -supported on eight, small columns. Viewed from -the outside, there is nothing to distinguish St. Sophia -from the other great mosques of Stambul, except -that it is heavier and dingier; far less would it ever<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256">256</a></span> -enter one’s head to name it “the greatest temple on -earth after St. Peter’s.”</p> - -<div id="if_i_254" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_254.jpg" width="600" height="452" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Mosque of St. Sophia.</div></div> - -<p>Our guides conducted us by a narrow street skirting -the northern wall of the edifice to a bronze door, -which, swinging slowly back on its hinges, admitted -us to the eso-narthex. This is a very long and lofty -hall lined with marbles, and still glowing here and -there with ancient mosaics. Nine doors on the -eastern side give access to the body of the church, -opposite which five others formerly led to the exo-narthex, -which, in turn, communicated by thirteen -doors with the atrium. We had barely crossed the -threshold when a turbaned sacristan demanded our -firmans, and then, after donning slippers, at a sign -from the guides we approached the middle door on -the eastern side, which stood half open to receive -us. The first effect is certainly quite overpowering, -and for some moments we remained stunned and -speechless. In a single glance one is confronted -by an enormous space and a bold architecture of -semi-domes which seem to hang suspended in the -air, enormous pilasters, mighty arches, gigantic columns, -galleries, tribunes, arcades, over which floods -of light are poured from a thousand great windows—a -something I hardly know how to define of theatrical -and regal rather than sacred; an ostentation of size -and strength; a look of worldly pomp; a mixture -of the classic, barbarous, fanciful, arrogant, and -magnificent; a stupendous harmony in which, with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257">257</a></span> -the formidable and thunderous notes of the pilasters -and cyclopean arches, recalling the cathedrals of the -North, there mingle soft, subdued strains of some -Oriental air, the noisy music of the revels of Justinian -and Heraclitus, echoes of pagan chants, the -choked voice of an effeminate and wornout race, and -distant cries of Goth, of Vandal, and of Avar; a -mighty defaced majesty, a sinister nakedness, a profound -peace—St. Peter’s shrunken and plastered -over, St. Mark’s enlarged and abandoned; a quite -indescribable mingling of church, mosque, and -temple, severe in aspect, puerile in adornment—of -things old and new, faded colors, and curious, unfamiliar -accessories: a sight, in short, so bewildering, -so awe-inspiring, and at the same time so full of melancholy, -that for a time the mind cannot grasp its -full meaning, but gropes about uncertainly, trying -to find first what it is, and then words in which to -express it.</p> - -<p>The plan of the edifice nearly approaches an -equilateral rectangle, over the centre of which rises -the great dome, supported on four mighty arches -resting upon massive pilasters: these form, as it -were, the skeleton of the entire building. From -the arches on the right and left of the entrance -there rise, before and beyond the great dome, two -semi-domes, the three covering the entire nave, -these semi-domes have six exedræ, of which the four -on the sides are also covered with semi-domes, making<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258">258</a></span> -four small circular temples enclosed in the large -one. Between the two exedræ at the east end of -the building is the apse, which projects beyond the -external wall, and is likewise covered with a domed -roof. Thus seven semi-domes encircle the main one, -two just beyond it and five more beyond these, all -of them without any apparent support, and presenting -an extraordinary impression of lightness, as -though they actually were, as a Greek poet once -said, suspended by seven cords from the roof of the -sky. All these domes are lighted by large windows -arched and symmetrical. Between the four great -pilasters, which form a square in the centre of the -basilica, there rise to the right and left of the -entrance eight wonderful columns of green marble, -from which spring graceful arches richly carved -with foliage, forming charming porticos on either -side of the nave, and supporting at a great height -two vast galleries, where are to be seen two other -lines of columns and sculptured arches. A third -gallery, communicating with the first two, runs -above the narthex, and opens out on the nave by -means of three enormous arches supported on double -columns. Other smaller galleries, resting upon -porphyry columns, intersect the four small temples -at the extremities of the nave, and from them rise -other columns supporting tribunes.</p> - -<p>Such is the basilica. The mosque is, so to speak, -spread over its surface and hung upon its walls.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259">259</a></span> -The <i>mihrab</i>—that is, the niche which indicates the -direction in which Mecca lies—is hollowed out of -one of the pilasters of the apse; to the right of it, -high up on the wall, hangs one of the four prayer-carpets -of the Prophet. In the angle of the apse -nearest to the mihrab, reached by a steep little flight -of stairs whose marble balustrade is carved with the -most marvellous delicacy of workmanship, is the -pulpit, surmounted by a queer conical roof and hung -on either side with victorious banners of Muhammad -II. Here the <i>rhatib</i> ascends to read the Koran,<a id="FNanchor_H" href="#Footnote_H" class="fnanchor">H</a> -and carries in his hand a drawn simeter, to signify -that St. Sophia is a mosque acquired by the force of -arms. Opposite the pulpit is the Sultan’s tribune -enclosed within a gilded grating. Other pulpits or -species of balconies, having railings of open-work -carving, and supported on small marble columns and -arabesqued arches, protrude here and there along -the walls or toward the centre of the nave. On -either side of the entrance stand two huge alabaster -jars, found among the ruins of Pergamum and -brought to Constantinople by Murad III. Enormous -green disks, bearing inscriptions from the Koran<a id="FNanchor_I" href="#Footnote_I" class="fnanchor">I</a> -in letters of gold, are hung below the pendentives,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260">260</a></span> -beneath which great mural slabs of porphyry bear -the names of Allah, Mohammed, and the first four -khalifs. In the pendentives may still be seen the -gigantic wings of the four mosaic seraphim, whose -faces are now concealed beneath golden roses. From -the roofs of the domes hang innumerable silken -cords, measuring almost the entire height of the -building, from which are suspended ostrich eggs, -lamps of wrought bronze, and crystal globes. Here -and there stand cassia-wood reading-desks, inlaid -with copper and mother-of-pearl, on which lie manuscript -copies of the Koran. On the pavement are -spread great numbers of rugs and mats. The walls -are bare, whitish, yellowish, gray, still adorned in -some places with discolored mosaics. The general -aspect is inexpressibly mournful.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_H" href="#FNanchor_H" class="fnanchor">H</a> This pulpit is the <i>minbir</i>, used only on Friday, and then by -the rhatib to read a prayer for the Sultan, Khalîf, and Islam.—<span class="smcap">Trans.</span></p> - -<p><a id="Footnote_I" href="#FNanchor_I" class="fnanchor">I</a> The names of Allah, the Prophet, and four khalifs mentioned -below are on these green disks, not verses from the Koran.—<span class="smcap">Trans.</span></p></div> - -<div id="if_i_260" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_260.jpg" width="600" height="458" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Interior of the Mosque of St. Sophia.</div></div> - -<p>The great marvel of the mosque is the central -dome. Gazing up at it from the middle of the -nave, it truly seems, as Mme. de Staël said of the -dome of St. Peter’s, as though a vast abyss were -suspended over one’s head. It is very lofty, with -an enormous circumference, and is made to appear -still larger from the fact that its depth is but one-sixth -of its diameter.<a id="FNanchor_J" href="#Footnote_J" class="fnanchor">J</a> Around its base runs a small -gallery, above which are a row of forty arched -windows, and around the crown are inscribed the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261">261</a></span> -words pronounced by Muhammad II. when he drew -his horse up opposite the high altar on the day -of the conquest of Constantinople: “Allah is the -light of heaven and earth.” These letters, white on -a dark background, are some of them more than -twenty-seven feet long. As is well known, this -aërial prodigy could never have been constructed -had ordinary materials been employed. The roofs -were built of pumice-stone, which floats on the -surface of water, and of bricks from the Isle of -Rhodes, five of which hardly weigh as much as one -ordinary brick; on each of them was inscribed the -sentence from David, “<i>Deus in medio eius non -commovebitur. Adiuvabit eam Deus vultu suo</i>,” and -with every twelfth row relics of various saints were -walled in. During the progress of the building -operations the priests chanted and Justinian attended -in person clad in a coarse linen tunic, while -immense crowds looked on in admiration; and this -is hardly to be wondered at when we consider that -the construction of this “second firmament,” which -even at the present time is an object of wonder, was -an undertaking without parallel in the sixth century. -The common people believed it to be the result of -magic, and the Turks must have had much ado for -a long period after the conquest to keep their gaze -fixed upon the east when praying in St. Sophia, -instead of resting it upon that “stone heaven” above -their heads. The dome covers, indeed, nearly half<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262">262</a></span> -the nave, in such a manner as to light up and dominate -the entire edifice: it can be seen, at least in -part, from every point, and, wander where you will, -you invariably bring up beneath it to find your gaze -attracted for the hundredth time to that immeasurable -space, where eye and mind float with ecstatic delight -as though borne on wings.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_J" href="#FNanchor_J" class="fnanchor">J</a> This is a mistake: the great dome of St. Sophia is 107 -feet across by 46 in height. (See Fergusson, <i>Hist. Architecture</i>.)—<span class="smcap">Trans.</span></p></div> - -<p>After inspecting the nave and dome one has but -just begun to see St. Sophia. Whoever takes the -least shadow, for example, of historical interest in -the building could spend an hour over the columns -alone. Here may be found spoils from every temple -in the world. The four columns of green marble -supporting the large galleries were presented to Justinian -by the magistrates of Ephesus, having formerly -stood in the temple of Diana, which was -burned by Herostratus. The eight porphyry columns -which stand two and two between the pilasters were -a part of the temple of the Sun at Baalbek, and -were carried thence by Aurelian to Rome. Others -are from the temple of Jupiter at Cyzicus and of -Helios at Palmyra—from the temples of Thebes, of -Athens, of Rome, of the Troad, the Cyclades, and -from Alexandria: altogether, they present an endless -variety of style, form size, and color. What -between the columns, the railings and pedestals, and -the portions of the ancient covering of the walls -which still remain, there are marbles from every -quarry of the Archipelago, Asia Minor, Africa, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263">263</a></span> -Gaul: the white Bosphorus marble speckled with -black contrasts with the black Celtic veined with -white; the green marble of Laconia is reflected in -the blue Libyan, while the Egyptian spotted -porphyry, starred granite of Thessaly, the red-and-white -striped stone of Mt. Jassey, and pale <i>caristio</i> -streaked with iron, mingle their colors with the -purple Phrygian, red Synadian, gold of the Mauritius, -and snow-white marble of Paros. Added to -this wealth of color is the indescribable variety of -form, as seen in the friezes, the cornices, roses, and -balustrades, and odd Corinthian capitals carved with -foliage, crosses, animals, and strange chimerical -figures, all interlaced: others, again, belong to no -order in especial, of curious design and unequal size, -evidently coupled together by chance—shafts of -columns, pedestals ornamented with strange sculptures, -injured by time and mutilated by sabre-cuts,—altogether -an effect of wild and barbarous magnificence -which, while it outrages the rules of good -taste, attracts the eye with an unresistible fascination.</p> - -<div id="if_i_262" class="figcenter" style="width: 485px;"> - <img src="images/i_262.jpg" width="485" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">First Columns Erected in St. Sophia.</div></div> - -<p>From the nave one hardly appreciates the vast -size of the building, of which it indeed forms but a -comparatively small part. The two aisles beneath -the large galleries are in themselves two large edifices, -out of either one of which a separate temple -might be formed. Each of these is divided in three -and separated by large vaulted openings. Indeed,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264">264</a></span> -everything here, column, architrave, pilaster, roof, -is gigantic. Passing beneath these arches, you can -barely see the nave from between the columns of the -Ephesian temple, and seem almost to be in another -basilica: the same effect is produced from the galleries, -reached by a winding stair with very gentle -gradations, or rather it is an inclined plane, for -there are two steps, and one might readily ascend it -on horseback. The galleries were used as gynæconitis; -that is, those parts of the church reserved -for women: penitents remained without in the eso-narthex, -while the mass of the faithful occupied the -nave. Each one of these galleries is capable of accommodating -the entire population of a suburb of -Constantinople. You no longer feel as though you -were in a church, but rather walking in the foyer of -some Titanic theatre, expecting at any moment to -hear the sudden outburst of a chorus sung by a hundred -thousand voices. In order to realize the immense -size and obtain a really good view of the -mosque one must lean well over the railing of the -gallery and look around. Arches, roofs, pilasters, -have all swelled to gigantic proportions. The -green disks which, seen from below, appear to -measure about the length of a man’s arm, are now -large enough to cover a house. The windows look -like portes-cochères of palaces, the seraphim wings -like the spread sails of a vessel, the tribunes like -vast open squares; while it makes one’s head swim<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265">265</a></span> -to look up at the dome at all. Casting the eyes -below, one is taken aback to find how high he has -mounted: the pavement of the nave is far away at -the bottom of an abyss, while the pulpits, jars from -Pergamum, mats, and lamps seem to have shrunken -in the most extraordinary manner. One rather curious -circumstance about the mosque of St. Sophia -is particularly noticeable from this elevated position: -the nave not being precisely in line with Mecca, -toward which it is incumbent upon every good Mussulman -to turn while praying, all the mats and strips -of carpet are placed obliquely with the lines of the -building, and produce upon the eye the same disagreeable -effect as though there were some gross -defect in the perspective. From there, too, one is -enabled to see and observe all the life of the mosque. -Turks are kneeling upon the mats with foreheads -touching the pavement; others stand erect and motionless -as statues, with hands held before their -faces, as though interrogating their palms; some are -seated cross-legged at the foot of a pilaster, much -as they would rest beneath the shade of a tree; -veiled women kneel in a distant corner; old men -seated before the lecterns read from the Koran; an -<i>iman</i> is hearing a group of boys recite sacred -verses; and here and there beneath distant arches -and through the galleries the forms of <i>rhatib</i>, <i>iman</i>, -or <i>muezzin</i> and various other functionaries of the -mosque glide noiselessly back and forth, as though<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266">266</a></span> -their feet hardly touched the ground, clad in strange, -unfamiliar costumes, while the vague, subdued murmur -of those who pray and those who read, that -clear, steady light, the thousand odd-looking lamps, -the deserted apse and echoing galleries, the immensity -of it all, the past associations and present peacefulness,—combine -to produce such an impression -of greatness and of mystery as neither words can -express nor time efface.</p> - -<p>But the dominating sensation, as I have already -said, is one of sadness, and that great poet who -compared St. Sophia to a “colossal sepulchre” was -not far wrong. On all sides you see the signs of a -barbarous devastation, and experience more melancholy -in the thought of what has been than pleasure -in contemplating what still remains. After the first -feelings of amazement have to some extent subsided, -one’s mind turns intuitively to the past. And -even now, after a lapse of three years, I can never -think of the great mosque without trying to imagine -the church. Overthrow the pulpits of the Mussulman, -remove the lamps and jars, cut down the disks -and tear away the porphyry slabs, reopen the doors -and windows that have been bricked up, scrape -away the plaster which covers wall and roof, and, -behold! the basilica whole and new as it appeared -on that day, thirteen centuries ago, when Justinian -exclaimed, “<i>Glory be to God, who has judged me -worthy to perform this mighty work! O Solomon, I have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267">267</a></span> -surpassed thee!</i>” Every object upon which the eye -rests shines or glitters or flashes like the enchanted -palaces in a fairy tale. The enormous walls, once -more covered with precious marbles, send back reflections -of gold, ivory, steel, coral, and mother-of-pearl; -the markings and veins of the marble look -like coronets or garlands of flowers; wherever a -ray of sunlight chances to fall upon those walls, -all encrusted with crystal mosaics, they flash and -sparkle as though set with diamonds; the capitals, -entablatures, doors, and friezes of the arches are all -of gilded bronze; the roofs of aisle and gallery are -covered with angelic forms and figures of saints -painted upon a golden background; before the -pilasters in the chapels, beside the doors, between -the columns, stand marble and bronze statues and -enormous candelabra of solid gold; superb copies -of the Gospels lie upon lecterns adorned like kings’ -thrones; lofty ivory crosses and vases encrusted with -pearls stand upon the altars. The extremity of the -nave is nothing but one blaze of light from a mass -of glittering objects: here is the gilded bronze -balustrade of the choir, the pulpit overlaid with -forty thousand pounds of silver—the Egyptian -tribute for a whole year; the seats of the seven -priests, the Patriarch’s throne, and that of the -emperor gilded, carved, inlaid, set with pearls, so -that when the sun shines full upon them one is -forced to avert the eye. Beyond all these splendors<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268">268</a></span> -in the apse a still more vivid blaze is seen proceeding -from the altar itself, the table of which, supported -upon four gold pillars, is composed of a -fusion of silver, gold, lead, and pearls; above it -rises the ciborium, formed of four pillars of pure -silver supporting a massive gold cupola, surmounted -by a globe and by a cross also of gold weighing two -hundred and sixty pounds.<a id="FNanchor_K" href="#Footnote_K" class="fnanchor">K</a> Beyond the altar is -seen the gigantic image of Holy Wisdom, whose feet -touch the pavement and head the roof of the apse. -High over all this magnificence shine and glisten the -seven semi-domes overlaid with mosaics of crystal -and gold, and the mighty central dome covered with -figures of apostle and evangelist, the Virgin and the -cross, all colored, gilded, and brilliant like a roof of -jewels and flowers. And dome and pillar, statue and -candelabra, each and every gorgeous object, is repeated -in the immense mirror of the pavement, -whose polished marbles are joined together in undulating -lines, which, seen from the four main entrances, -have the effect of four majestic rivers ruffled -by the wind. But we must not forget the atrium—surrounded -by columns, and walls covered with mosaics—in -which stood marble fountains and equestrian -statues; and the thirty-two towers whose bells -made so formidable a clamor that they could be heard -throughout the seven hills; or the hundred bronze<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269">269</a></span> -doors decorated with bas-reliefs and inscriptions in -silver; or the hall of the synod; the imperial apartments; -the sacerdotal prisons; the baptistry; the -vast sacristies overflowing with treasure; and a labyrinth -of vestibules, tricliniums, corridors, and secret -stairways built in the walls and leading to tribunes -and hidden oratories.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_K" href="#FNanchor_K" class="fnanchor">K</a> Some authorities give the weight of this cross as seventy-five -pounds.—<span class="smcap">Trans.</span></p></div> - -<p>And now let us in fancy attend some great state -function—an imperial marriage, a council, a coronation. -From the enormous palace of the Cæsars the -glittering procession sweeps forth through streets -flanked by thousands of columns, perfumed with -myrrh, and spread with flowers and myrtle. The -houses on either side are decorated with precious -vases and silken hangings. Two bands, the one of -<i>azzurri</i>, the other <i>verdi</i>, precede the cortége, which -advances amid the songs of poets and noise of the -heralds shouting vivas in all the tongues of the empire, -and there, seated like an idol laden with pearls -in a golden car with purple hangings, and drawn by -two white mules, the emperor appears, wearing the -tiara surmounted by a cross, and surrounded with all -the pomp of a Persian monarch. The haughty ecclesiastics -advance to the atrium to receive him, and -all that throng of courtiers, attendants, place-seekers, -sycophants, lord high constables, chief eunuchs, -master-thieves, corrupt magistrates, spurious -patricians, cowardly senators, slaves, buffoons, casuists, -mercenaries, adventurers from every land,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270">270</a></span> -the entire glittering rabble of gilded offscourings, -pours through the twenty-seven doors and into the -huge nave lit up by six thousand candelabras. Then -along the choir-rail and beneath arcade and tribune -there is a coming and going; a movement and -mingling of bared heads and purple cloaks; a waving -of jewelled plumes and velvet caps; the glitter -of golden chains and silver breastplates; an interchange -of ceremonious greetings and courtly salutations; -the constant rustle and sweep of silken garments -and rattle of jewelled hilts; while soft -perfumes load the air and the vast servile throng -makes the sacred edifice ring again with shouts of -admiration and profane applause.</p> - -<p>After making the circuit of the mosque several -times in silence, we gave our guides permission to -talk. They commenced by showing us the chapels -built beneath the galleries, now, like the rest of the -basilica, despoiled of everything of value: some of -them, like the <i>opistodomo</i> of the Parthenon, serve as -treasuries, where Turks who are about to start on -long journeys deposit their money and other valuables -to be secure from robbery, sometimes leaving -their possessions there, under the protection -of Allah, for years at a time; others have been -closed up and are used either as infirmaries for -the sick, where they lie awaiting death or recovery, -or else places of confinement for the insane, -whose melancholy cries or bursts of wild laughter<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271">271</a></span> -awaken from time to time the echoes of the vast -building.</p> - -<p>We were now reconducted to the centre of the -nave, and the Greek dragoman began to recount the -marvels of the basilica. The design, it is quite true, -was sketched by the two architects, Anthemius of -Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus, but the first conception -came to them through angelic inspiration; it -was also an angel who suggested to Justinian the -idea of opening the three windows in the apse to -represent the three Persons of the Trinity; in the -same way the hundred and seven columns of the -church stand for the hundred and seven pillars which -support the House of Wisdom. It took seven years -merely to collect the necessary materials for constructing -the edifice, while a hundred master-builders -were employed to overlook the ten thousand -workmen, five thousand on one side and five thousand -on the other, who labored at its erection. -When the walls had risen to the height of but a few -hands only from the ground more than four hundred -and fifty quintals of gold had already been expended. -The outlay for the building alone amounted to -twenty-five million francs. The church was consecrated -by the Patriarch five years eleven months -and ten days after the first stone was laid, and Justinian -celebrated the occasion by feasts and sacrifices -and distributions of money and food which were -prolonged for two weeks.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272">272</a></span> -At this point the Turkish <i>cavas</i> interrupted in -order to call our attention to the pilaster upon which -Muhammad II. left the bloody imprint of his right -hand on the day of his victorious entrance, as though -to seal his conquest; he then pointed out the so-called -“cold window,” near the mihrab, through -which a perpetual current of cool air inspires the -most eloquent discourses from the greatest orators -of Islamism. He next showed us, close by another -window, the famous “shining stone,” a slab of transparent -marble which gleams like crystal when struck -by the sun’s rays, and made us touch the “sweating -column,” on the left of the north entrance. This -column is overlaid with bronze, through a crack in -which the stone can be seen covered with moisture. -And finally he showed us a block of hollowed-out -marble, brought from Bethlehem, in which, it is said, -was placed immediately after his birth Sidi Yssa, -“the Son of Mary, apostle of, and Spirit proceeding -out from, God, worthy of all honor both in this world -and the next.” But it struck me that neither Turk -nor Greek placed very much faith in this relic.</p> - -<p>The Greek now took up his parable, and led us -by a certain walled-up doorway in the gallery, in -order to recount the celebrated legend of the Greek -bishop; and now his manner was one of such entire -belief that, if it was not sincere, it was certainly -wonderfully well feigned. It seems that at the very -moment when the Turks burst into the church of St.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273">273</a></span> -Sophia a bishop was in the act of celebrating mass -at the high altar. Leaving the altar at sight of -the invaders, he ascended to one of the galleries, -where some Turks, following in hot pursuit, saw him -disappear within this little door, which was instantly -closed up by a stone wall. Throwing themselves -against it, the soldiers tried with all their force to -break it down, hammering and pounding furiously -against the stones, but with no other result than to -leave the marks of their weapons upon the wall. -Masons were sent for, who worked an entire day -with pickaxes and crowbars, finally abandoning the -attempt: after them every mason in Constantinople -tried in turn to effect an opening, but one and all -failed to make any impression upon the miraculous -wall, which has remained closed ever since. On that -day, however, when the profaned basilica shall be -restored to the worship of Christ the wall will open -of its own accord, and the bishop will come forth, -wearing his episcopal robes, and, chalice in hand, -his face illumined as with a celestial vision, will -mount the steps of the altar and resume the mass at -the very point where he left off centuries ago; and -then will be the dawn of a new era for the city of -Constantine.</p> - -<p>As we were about leaving the building the Turkish -sacristan, who had followed us all about, lounging -and yawning, gave us a handful of bits of -mosaic, which he had dug out of a wall shortly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274">274</a></span> -before, and the dragoman, whom this incident had -interrupted as he was about to launch forth into the -account of the profanation of St. Sophia, resumed -his recital.</p> - -<p>I certainly hope, however, that no one will interrupt -me, now that the whole scene has been brought -so vividly before me by this description of the -building.</p> - -<p>Hardly had the report been noised abroad throughout -Constantinople, at about seven in the morning, -that the Turks had actually scaled the walls, than -an immense throng of people rushed to St. Sophia -for refuge. There were about a hundred thousand -persons in all—renegade soldiers, monks, priests, -senators, thousands of virgins from the convents, -members of patrician families laden with their -treasures, high state dignitaries, and princes of the -imperial blood,—all pouring through nave and gallery -and arcade, treading upon one another in every -recess of the huge building, and mingling in one inextricable -mass with the dregs of the population, -slaves, and malefactors escaped from the prisons -and galleys. The mighty basilica resounded with -shrieks of terror such as are heard in a theatre at -the outbreak of fire. When every nook and corner, -gallery and chapel, was filled to overflowing, the -doors were shut to and securely bolted, and the -wild uproar of the first few moments gave place to -a terror-stricken silence. Many still believed that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275">275</a></span> -the victors would not dare to violate the sanctity of -St. Sophia; others awaited with a stubborn sense of -security the appearance of the angel foretold by the -prophets who was to annihilate the Turkish army -before the advance-guard should have reached the -Column of Constantine; others, again, had ascended -to the gallery running around the interior of the -dome, from whose windows they could watch the -movements of the enemy and impart their intelligence -by signs to the hundred thousand strained and -ashy faces turned up to them from the nave and galleries -below. An immense white mass could be seen -covering the city-walls from the Blachernæ to the -Golden Gate, from which four shining bands were -seen to detach themselves and advance between the -houses like four torrents of lava, increasing in volume -and noise and leaving behind them a track of -smoke and flame. These were the four attacking -columns of the Turkish army driving before them -the disorganized remainder of the Greek forces, and -burning and plundering as they came, converging -toward St. Sophia, the Hippodrome, and the imperial -palace. As the advance-guard reached the second -hill the blare of their trumpets suddenly smote upon -the ears of the terrified throng in the basilica, who -fell upon their knees in agonized supplication; but -even then there were many who still looked for the -angel to appear, and others who clung to the hope -that a feeling of awe at the vastness and majesty of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276">276</a></span> -that building, dedicated to the worship of God, -might hold the invaders in check. But even this -last illusion was soon dispelled. Through the thousand -windows there broke on their ears a confused -roar of human voices mingled with the clashing of -arms and shrill blare of trumpets, and a moment -later the first blows of the Ottoman sabres fell upon -the bronze doors of the vestibule and resounded -throughout the entire building, sounding the death-knell -of the listening multitude, who, feeling the -chill breath of the grave blow upon them, abandoned -hope and recommended their souls to the mercy of -God. Before long the doors were battered in or -struck from their hinges, and a savage horde of -janissaries, spahis, <i>timmarioti</i>, dervishes, and sciaus, -covered with dust and blood, their faces contorted -with the fury of battle, rapine, and murder, appeared -in the openings. At sight of the enormous nave, -glittering with gold and precious stones, they sent up -a great shout of astonishment and joy, and, pouring -in like a furious torrent, abandoned themselves to the -work of pillage and destruction. Some busied themselves -at once in securing the women and virgins, -valuable booty for the slave-market, who, stupefied -with terror, offered no resistance, but voluntarily -held out their arms for the chains. Others attacked -the rich furnishings of the church: tabernacles were -violated, images overthrown, ivory crucifixes trodden -under foot, while the mosaics, mistaken for precious<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_277">277</a></span> -stones, fell under the blows of the cimeters in -glittering showers into the cloaks and caftans held -open to receive them; pearls, detached from their -settings with sabre-points, rolled about over the -pavement, chased like living creatures and fought -over with savage kicks and blows. The high altar -was broken up into a thousand pieces of gold and -silver; thrones, pulpits, the choir-rail, all disappeared -as though swept away by an avalanche of -rock and stone, and still those Asiatic hordes continued -to pour into the church in blood-stained -waves, and on all sides nothing could be seen but a -whirlwind of drunken ruffians, some of whom had -placed tiaras on their heads, while others wore different -parts of the sacerdotal vestments over their own -clothing. Chalices and receptacles for the Host -were waved aloft, and troops of newly-acquired -slaves, bound two and two with ecclesiastical scarfs -of gold, and horses and camels laden with plunder, -were driven over the pavement strewn with broken -fragments of statues, torn copies of the Evangels, -and relics of the saints—a barbarous and sacrilegious -orgy in which shouts of triumph, fierce -threats, bursts of hoarse laughter, children’s cries, -the neighing of horses, and shrill clanging of trumpets -mingled in one overpowering uproar, until, suddenly, -the mad tumult ceased, and in the awed hush -which followed the august figure of Muhammad II. -appeared in a doorway, on horseback and surrounded<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_278">278</a></span> -by a group of princes, viziers, and generals, haughty -and impassive, like the living representative of the -vengeance of God. Rising in his stirrups, he announced -in a voice of thunder, which re-echoed -throughout the whole of the devastated building, the -first formula of the new religion: “Allah is the light -of heaven and earth.”</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_279">279</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 id="h_279">DOLMABÂGHCHEH.</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_281">281</a></span> -Every Friday the Sultan says his prayers in some -one of the mosques of Constantinople.</p> - -<div id="if_i_280" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_280.jpg" width="600" height="456" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Palace of Dolma Baghcheh.</div></div> - -<p>We saw him one day on his way to the mosque of -Abdul-Mejid, which stands on the European shore of -the Bosphorus not far from the imperial palace of -Dolmabâghcheh. To reach this palace from Galata -you pass through the populous district of Top-Khâneh, -between a great gun-foundry and an immense -arsenal, and, traversing the entire Mussulman -quarter of Fundukli, which occupies the site of the -ancient Aianteion, come out upon a spacious open -square on the water’s edge, beyond which and on the -shore of the Bosphorus rises the famous residence -of the sultans.</p> - -<p>It is the largest marble building reflected in the -waters of the strait from Seraglio hill to the mouth -of the Black Sea, and can only be embraced in a -single view by taking a käik and passing along its -front. The façade, nearly a half (Italian) mile in -length, looks toward Asia, and can be seen at a -great distance gleaming between the water’s blue -and deep green summits of the hills behind it.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_282">282</a></span> -Properly speaking, it can hardly be called a palace, -since it is not the result of any one architectural plan. -The various parts are detached and present an extraordinary -mixture of styles—Arabic, Greek, Asiatic, -Gothic, Turkish, Romanesque, and Renaissance—combining -the stateliness of the royal European -palaces with the almost effeminate grace and charm -of those of Granada and Seville. It might be -called, instead of an imperial palace, an imperial -city, like that of the emperor of China, and, more -from the peculiarity of its arrangements than its -great size, looks as though instead of a single monarch, -a dozen kings, friends or brothers, might occupy -it, dividing their time between amusement and -complete idleness. Seen from the Bosphorus, there -are a series of façades, looking like a row of theatres -and temples, covered with an indescribable mass of -ornamentation, apparently, as a Turkish poet has -said, thrown broadcast by a madman’s hand, and -which, like the famous Indian pagoda, weary the -eye out almost at the first glance. They seem to be -stone memorials of the mad caprices, loves, and intrigues -of the dissolute princes who have inhabited -them. Rows of Doric and Ionic pillars, light as the -pole of a lance; windows framed in festooned cornices -and twisted columns; arches carved with -flowers and foliage, surmounting doors covered with -fretwork; charming little balconies with open-work -sculpture; trophies, roses, vines, and garlands which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_283">283</a></span> -knot and intertwine with one another; delicate -fancies in marble budding forth in the entablatures, -running along the balconies, surrounding the windows; -a network of arabesques extending from door -to roof; a bloom and pomp and delicacy of execution -and richness of design which lends to each one -of the smaller palaces forming a part of the whole -the character of some masterpiece of the workman’s -chisel; and so impossible does it seem that -the design could ever have emanated from the brain -of a placid Armenian architect that one is rather -tempted to ascribe its origin to a dream of some -enamored sultan sleeping with his head upon the -breast of an ambitious lady-love. Before it stretches -a line of lofty marble pilasters connected by a -gilded screenwork of boughs and flowers intertwined -with such marvellous delicacy that at a little distance -it has all the appearance of a lace curtain which at -any moment may be carried away by a puff of wind. -Long flights of marble stairs lead from the entrances -to the water’s edge, and disappear beneath the waves. -Everything is white, fresh, and sparkling, as though -completed but yesterday. No doubt the eye of an -artist would detect a thousand minor errors in composition -and taste; but the effect as a whole of that -vast and magnificent pile of buildings, that array of -palaces, white as the driven snow, set like so many -jewels and crowned with verdure, reflected in the -shining waters below, is one of power, of mystery,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_284">284</a></span> -of luxurious pomp, and voluptuous pleasure which -almost supersedes that of the old Seraglio itself. -Those who have had the good fortune to see it affirm -that the interior fully comes up to the exterior -of the building. Long suites of apartments, whose -walls are covered with brilliant and fantastic frescoes, -open into one another by doors of cedar and -cassia-wood; corridors flooded with soft radiance -lead to other rooms lighted from crimson crystal -domes, and baths which seem to have been fashioned -from a single block of Paros marble; lofty balconies -overhang mysterious gardens, and groves of cypress -and rose trees, from which, through long -perspectives of Moorish porticoes, the blue waters of -the sea are seen sparkling in the sunlight beyond; -and windows, terraces, balconies, kiosks, everything, -brilliant with flowers, and everywhere cascades of -water shooting into the air to fall back in filmy -showers upon green turf and marble pavement; -while in all directions there open up enchanting -views of the Bosphorus, the cool breezes from -whose surface impart a delicious freshness to every -corner of the great building.</p> - -<p>On the side facing toward Fundukli there is an -imposing entrance, covered with a mass of ornamentation, -out of which the Sultan was expected to -appear and cross the square. Not another monarch -upon earth has such beautiful surroundings in which -to issue in state from his palace and show himself to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_285">285</a></span> -his subjects. Standing at the foot of the hill,—on -one side is the entrance to the palace, looking like a -royal triumphal arch; on the other the beautiful -mosque of Abdul-Mejid, flanked by two graceful -minarets; opposite is the Bosphorus; and beyond -rise the green hills of Asia dotted over with kiosks, -palaces, mosques, and villages of every variety -of form and color, like some great scattered -city decked out for a fête; farther on is seen the -smiling beauty of Skutari, with her funereal crown -of cypress trees; and between the two banks a -never-ending procession of sailing vessels; men-of-war -with flags flying; crowded steamboats, looking -as though their decks were heaped with flowers; -Asiatic ships of strange, obsolete design; launches -from the Seraglio; princely barges; flocks of birds -skimming over the surface of the water—a scene -at once so full of peace and regal beauty that the -stranger whose eye wanders over it as he awaits the -coming of the imperial cortége finds himself picturing -the fortunate possessor of all these things as endowed -with angelic beauty and the smiling serenity -of an infant.</p> - -<p>A half hour before the appointed time two companies -of soldiers wearing the uniform of zouaves -stationed themselves in the square to keep the way -cleared for the Sultan’s passage, and before long the -spectators began to arrive in crowds. It is always -amusing to take note of the queerness and variety<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_286">286</a></span> -of the people who assemble on such occasions. Here -and there elegant private carriages were drawn -up to one side, filled with Turkish great ladies, the -gigantic form of a mounted eunuch standing guard -at each door, immovable as pieces of marble; there -were hired open turnouts containing English ladies, -groups of tourists with opera-glasses hanging at -their sides, among whom on this occasion I recognized -the languishing face of the irresistible youth -from the Hôtel de Byzance, come, no doubt, cruel -charmer! to crush with one triumphant glance -his powerful but unhappy rival. A few long-haired -individuals wandering about the outskirts of the -crowd with portfolios under their arms I took to be -artists animated by a faint hope of being able to -make a hasty sketch of the imperial features. Near -the band-stand was a strikingly beautiful French -woman, whose conspicuous dress and free, hardened -bearing suggested a cosmopolitan adventuress come -hither to attract the eye of the Sultan himself, especially -as I seemed to read in her glance the “fearful -joy of a mighty enterprise.” There was also a -sprinkling of those old Turks, fanatical and suspicious -subjects of the empire, who never fail to be -present whenever their Padishah appears in public, -in order that they may be assured by the evidence -of their own senses that he is alive and well for the -glory and prosperity of the universe. It is, in fact, -precisely that his people may have this proof of his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_287">287</a></span> -continued existence that the Sultan thus shows himself -every Friday, since it might easily happen -again, as it has before, that his death, brought about -either by violence or from natural causes, would -through some intrigue of the court be concealed -from the populace. Then there were beggars, and -Mussulman dandies, and eunuchs out of employment, -and dervishes, among the last-named of whom I -noticed one tall, old, lean specimen who stood motionless -gazing with fierce eyes and a most sinister -expression at the door of the palace, exactly as -though he only awaited the Sultan’s appearance to -plant himself in his path and fling in his teeth the -words addressed by the dervish of the <i>Orientals</i> to -Pasha Ali of Tepeleni: “Accursed one! you are -no better than a dog.” But such examples of inspired -candor have gone out of fashion since the -famous sabre-thrust of Mahmûd. Then there were -numbers of Turkish women standing apart and looking -like groups of masks, and the usual gathering -like a stage chorus which makes up a Constantinople -crowd. All the heads were thrown out in relief -against the blue background of the Bosphorus, -and every mouth at that moment was probably whispering -the same thing. It was just then that rumors -were beginning to be circulated about the extravagant -doings of Abdul-Aziz. For some little time -stories had been told of his insatiable greed for -money. People would say to one another, “Mahmûd<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_288">288</a></span> -had a passion for blood; Abdul-Mejid for -women; Abdul-Aziz has for gold.” All those hopes -built upon him when as prince imperial he felled -an ox at a single blow, exclaiming, “Thus will -I destroy ignorance,” had died out some time -before. The tastes he had evinced in the early -years of his reign for a simple and severe mode -of life, caring, as was said, for only one woman, -and cutting down with an unsparing hand the -enormous expenses of the Seraglio, were now but -a distant memory. Probably it had been many -years as well since he had finally abandoned those -studies in legislation and military tactics and -European literature about which he had made as -much noise as though the entire regeneration of the -empire was to be effected through them; now he -thought only of himself, and hardly a day passed -that some new anecdote was not set in circulation -about his bursts of wrath against the minister of -finance, who either would not or could not give him -as much money as he demanded. At the least opposition -he would hurl the first object on which he -could lay his hands at his unfortunate Excellency, -repeating from beginning to end and at the top of -his voice the ancient formula of the imperial oath: -“By God, the Creator of heaven and earth, by the -prophet Mohammed, by the seven variations of the -Koran, by the hundred and twenty-four thousand -prophets of God, by the soul of my grandfather<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_289">289</a></span> -and by the soul of my father, by my sons and by -my sword! give me money or I will have your head -stuck on the point of the highest minaret in Stambul.” -And by one means or another he always succeeded -in getting what he wanted, sometimes gloating -over the money thus acquired like a common -miser over his hoard, at others scattering it to the -winds in the indulgence of all manner of puerile -fancies. To-day he would take a sudden interest in -lions, to-morrow in tigers, and agents would be despatched -forthwith to India and Africa to purchase -them for him; then for a whole month five hundred -parrots stationed in the imperial gardens made them -resound with one single word; then he was seized -with a mania for collecting carriages, and for pianos, -which he insisted upon having played supported -upon the backs of four slaves; then he took to cock-fighting—would -witness the combats with enthusiastic -interest, and himself fasten a medal around the -neck of the victor, driving the vanquished into exile -beyond the Bosphorus; then he had a passion for -play, then for kiosks, then for pictures: it was as -though the court had gone back to the days of the -first Ibrahim.</p> - -<p>But with it all the unfortunate prince was -unable to find peace; he was moody and taciturn, -and only succeeded in alternating between utter -weariness of soul and the most wretched state of -apprehension. As though with an uneasy foreboding<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_290">290</a></span> -of the tragic fate awaiting him, he would -sometimes be possessed with the idea that he was -going to be poisoned, and for a while, mistrusting -every one about him, would refuse to eat anything -but hard-boiled eggs. Then, again, he would be -haunted by such a dread of fire that he would have -everything in his apartments, made of wood, removed, -to the very frames of the mirrors; it was even said -that at these times he would read at night by the -light of a candle placed in a basin of water. And yet, -notwithstanding all these follies, which were supposed -to have their origin in a cause of which there is no -necessity to speak here, he preserved to the full the -original strength of his indomitable will, and knew -how to make himself both obeyed and feared by the -most independent spirits around him. The only person -who exerted any influence over him at all was -his mother, a vain, foolish woman, who in the early -years of his reign used to have the streets through -which he must pass on his way to the mosque spread -with brocaded carpets, which she would give away -the following day to the slaves who were sent to take -them up.</p> - -<p>In the midst of all the turmoil of his restless life -Abdul-Aziz found time as well for the most trivial -whims, such as the having a door painted after a -particular design, combinations of certain fruits and -flowers, and, after giving the most minute directions, -would spend hours watching every stroke of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_291">291</a></span> -artist’s brush, as though that were the main business -of life.</p> - -<p>All these eccentricities, exaggerated—who knows -to what extent?—by the thousand tongues of the -Seraglio, were in every one’s mouth; and possibly -from that time on the threads of the conspiracy -which two years later was to hurl him from the -throne were woven more and more closely about the -unhappy prince. According to the Mussulmans, his -fall had already been determined upon and judgment -passed upon him and upon his reign—a judgment which -does not differ in any essential point from that applicable -to any other one of the later sultans. Imperial -princes, attracted toward a European civilization by a -liberal but superficial education, their youthful imaginations -all on fire with dreams of reform and glory, -before mounting the throne they indulge in visions -of the great changes they are to bring about, and -form resolutions, no doubt perfectly sincere at the -time, to dedicate their entire lives to that end, leading -an existence of struggle and self-denial. Then -they come to the throne, and after some years of -ineffectual resistance, confronted by thousands of -obstacles, hemmed in by customs and traditions, -balked and opposed by men and things, appalled -at the immensity of the undertaking, of which they -had formed no true idea, they become discouraged, -lapse into indolence, grow suspicious, and finally -turn to pleasure-seeking and self-indulgence for that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_292">292</a></span> -distraction which seems to be denied them in the -successful carrying out of their designs, and, leading -an utterly sensual life, lose little by little even the -memory of their early ambitions, as well as the consciousness -of their own deterioration. Thus it happens -that every new reign is ushered in with the -most hopeful prognostications, and not without -reason; only these are as invariably succeeded by -disappointment.</p> - -<p>Abdul-Aziz did not keep us waiting: at the hour -fixed there was a flourish of trumpets, the band -struck up a warlike march, the soldiers presented -arms, a company of lancers made their appearance -suddenly in the gateway, and after them the Sultan -on horseback, advancing slowly and followed by -the members of his court. He passed so close in -front of me that I had an excellent opportunity of -examining his features attentively, and of finding -how singularly incorrect was the picture I had -formed of him in my mind. The “king of kings,” -the prodigal, violent, capricious, imperious Sultan, -then about forty-four years old, had the air of an -extremely good-natured Turk who had found himself -a sultan without quite knowing why. He was -stout and robust, with good features, large calm -eyes, and a short, close-cut beard, already somewhat -grizzled: his countenance was open and placid, his -bearing easy, almost careless, and in his calm, indifferent -expression no trace of consciousness of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_293">293</a></span> -thousand eyes fixed upon him could be discovered. -He rode a handsome gray horse with gold-mounted -trappings, led by the bridle by two gorgeous grooms. -The long distance at which the retinue followed -would have pointed him out as the Sultan if nothing -else had. He was very plainly dressed, wearing a -simple fez, long dark coat buttoned close up under -the chin, light trousers, and leather shoes. Advancing -very slowly, he looked around on the spectators -with an expression of mingled benevolence and -weariness, as though saying, “Ah, if you did but -know how sick of it all I am!” The Mussulmans all -bowed profoundly, and many Europeans raised their -hats, but he took no notice of any one’s salutation. -Passing in front of us, he gave a glance at a tall -officer who saluted with his sword, another at the -Bosphorus, and then a much longer look at two -young English ladies who were watching him from -a carriage, and who turned as red as cherries. I -noticed that his hand was white and well formed: -it was, by the way, the right hand, the same with -which two years after he opened the vein in the -bath. After him followed a crowd of pashas, -courtiers, and prominent officials on horseback, for -the most part sturdy, black-bearded men, simply -dressed, and as silent, grave, and taciturn as though -they were part of a funeral cortége: then came a -group of grooms leading splendid-looking horses; -then more officers, these on foot, their breasts<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_294">294</a></span> -covered with gold braid: when these last had passed -the soldiers lowered their muskets, the crowd began -to scatter over the square, and I found myself -standing gazing at the summit of Mt. Bulgûrlû, -revolving in my mind the extraordinary situation -in which a sultan of Stambul must find himself now-a-days.</p> - -<p>He is, said I, a Mohammedan monarch, and his -royal palace stands in the shadow of a Christian city, -Pera, which towers above his head. He is an -absolute sovereign, holding sway over one of the -largest empires in the world, and yet here in his -capital and not far away there live in those great -palaces which overlook his Seraglio four or five -ceremonious foreigners who lord it over him in his -own house, and who in their intercourse with him -conceal under the most respectful language a constant -menace, which he acknowledges and fears. He has -power over the life and property of millions of his -subjects, and the means of gratifying every whim, -no matter how extravagant, and yet could not, if he -wanted to, alter the fashion of his own headgear. -Surrounded by an army of courtiers and body-guards, -who, if required, would kneel down and kiss his footprints, -he stands in constant fear of his life and that -of his sons. Absolute master of a thousand among -the most beautiful women on earth, he alone among -all Mussulmans in his dominions cannot bestow his -hand in marriage upon a free woman, can only have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_295">295</a></span> -sons of slaves, and is himself termed “the son of a -slave” by the same people who call him “the -shadow of God.” The sound of his name is feared -and reverenced from the farthermost confines of -Tartary to the uttermost bounds of Maghreb, and -in his own capital there is an ever-increasing -number of persons over whom he can claim no -shadow of control, and who laugh at him, his power, -and his religion. Over the entire surface of his -immense domain, among the most wretched tribes -of the most distant provinces, in the most isolated -mosques and monasteries of the wildest regions, -fervent prayers are constantly ascending for his -safety, health, and honor, and yet he cannot make -a journey anywhere in his empire that he does not -find himself surrounded by enemies who execrate -his name and call down the vengeance of God upon -his head. In the eyes of that part of the world -which lies outside his palace-gates he is one of the -most august and imposing monarchs upon earth; to -those who wait at his elbow he seems the weakest, -most pusillanimous, and wretched being that ever -wore a crown. A resistless current of ideas, beliefs, -and forces, all directly opposed to the traditions and -spirit upon which his power rests, sweeps over him, -transforming before his very eyes, underneath his -feet, all about him, customs, habits, laws, the very -men and objects themselves, without his assistance -or consent. And there he is between Europe and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_296">296</a></span> -Asia, in his huge palace washed by the sea-waves as -though it were a ship ready to set sail, in the midst -of an inextricable confusion of ideas and things, -surrounded by fabulous luxury and misery unspeakable, -<i>neither two nor one</i>—no longer a real Mussulman, -nor yet a complete European; reigning over a -people changed, though only in part, barbarians at -heart, with a whitewash of civilization; two-faced -like Janus; worshipped like a god, watched like a -slave; adored, deceived, beguiled, while every day -that passes over his head extinguishes a ray of the -halo that surrounds him and removes another stone -from the pedestal upon which he stands. It seems -to me, were I in his place, weary of such a condition -of things, satiated with pleasure, disgusted with -adulation, and outdone with the constant surveillance -and suspicion to which I was subjected, I would lose -all patience with a sovereignty so onerous and unstable, -a rule over conditions so hopelessly at war -with themselves, and some time at night, when the -entire Seraglio was buried in slumber, would jump -in the Bosphorus like a fugitive galley-slave, and, -swimming off to Galata, pass the hours till dawn in -some mariners’ tavern, with a glass of beer and a -clay pipe, shouting the Marseillaise in chorus.</p> - -<div id="if_i_296" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> - <img src="images/i_296.jpg" width="600" height="428" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">Palace of the Sultan on the Bosphorus.</div></div> - -<p>A half hour later the Sultan returned, driven -rapidly by, this time in a closed carriage, followed -by a number of officers on foot; and the show -was over. I think, on the whole, that what impressed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_297">297</a></span> -me most vividly was the sight of those officers, -attired in full dress, running and skipping -after the imperial equipage like so many lackeys: I -have never witnessed a similar prostitution of the -military uniform.</p> - -<p>This spectacle of the state appearance of the Sultan -is, as may be seen, a poor affair enough, very -different from what it once was. Formerly the sultans -only showed themselves in public surrounded -by great pomp and display, preceded and followed -by a gorgeous retinue of horsemen, slaves, guards -of the gardens, chamberlains, and eunuchs, which -when seen from a distance resembled, to use the -simile of the enthusiastic chroniclers of the day, -“a vast bed of tulips.” In these days the sultans -seem to rather avoid all such display, as though it -would be a piece of theatrical ostentation, representing -an order of things which no longer exists. I -often asked myself what one of those early monarchs -would say if, rising for a moment from his sepulchre -in Brusa or türbeh in Stambul, he should behold one -of his descendants of the nineteenth century pass -by clad in a long black coat, without turban, sword, -or jewels, and making his way through a crowd of -insolent foreigners: probably he would grow red in -the face with rage and shame, and, to show his utter -disdain, would treat him as Suleiman I. did -Hassan—seize him by his beard and cut it off with -his cimeter, than which no more poignant insult can<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_298">298</a></span> -be offered to an Osman. And, indeed, between the -sultans of to-day and those whose names resounded -like claps of thunder throughout Europe from the -twelfth to the sixteenth century there is as much -difference as between the Ottoman empire of our -times and that of the early centuries. To their lot -fell the youth, beauty, and vigor of the race; and -they were not only the living representatives of -their people, glorious examples, precious pearls in -the sword of Islamism, but they constituted a distinct -force in themselves. The personal qualities of -these powerful rulers formed one of the most potent -factors in the marvellous growth of the Ottoman -power during that period of its youth which covered -the hundred and twenty-three years from Osman -to Muhammad II. Truly, that was a succession of -mighty princes, and, with a single exception, not -only powerful, but, if you take into consideration -the times in which they lived and conditions of their -race, austere and wise as well, and deeply beloved -by their people—frequently ferocious, but rarely unjust, -and often kind and generous to their enemies. -All of these, too, as princes of such a race should -be, were handsome and imposing in appearance, -veritable lions, as their mothers termed them, at -whose roar the whole earth trembled. The Abdul-Mejids, -Abdul-Azizs, and Murads are but pale -shadows of padishahs in comparison with those -formidable youths, sons of fathers and mothers of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_299">299</a></span> -eighteen and fifteen respectively, offspring of the -flower of Tartar blood and bloom of Greek, Caucasian, -and Persian beauty. At fourteen they commanded -armies, governed provinces, and were presented -by their mothers with slaves as beautiful and -ardent as themselves. Sons were born to them at -sixteen as well as at seventy, and they retained their -youthful vigor of mind and body to old age. Their -spirit, said the poets, was of iron, their bodies were -of steel. Certain features which they all possessed in -common were lost later on by their degenerate descendants—high -foreheads, with arched eyebrows -meeting like those of the Persians; the blue eyes -of the sons of the Steppes; a curved nose above -crimson lips, “like the beak of a parrot over a -cherry;” and very thick black beards, which exhausted -the fertility of the Seraglio poets to find -meet comparisons for. They had the piercing -glance of the eagle of Mt. Taurus and the endurance -of the king of the desert; bull necks, enormously -wide shoulders, expanding chests, “capable -of containing all the warlike ardor of their people;” -very long arms, huge muscles, short bowed legs, -under whose grip the most powerful Turkomanian -chargers would neigh with pain; and great shaggy -hands, which tossed the bronze maces and mighty -bows of the soldiery about as though they had been -reeds. And their surnames fitted them well—wrestler, -champion, thunderbolt, bone-grinder, blood-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_300">300</a></span>shedder. -After Allah, war occupied the chief place -in their thoughts, and death the least. Although -they did not possess the genius of great commanders, -they were endowed with that power of prompt -and quick action which almost takes its place, -and a ferocious obstinacy which not infrequently -accomplishes the same results. They swept like -winged furies across the field of battle, the heron-quills -fastened in their white turbans and the ample -folds of their purple and gold-embroidered caftans -showing from afar, as with savage cries they drove -forward the decimated ranks of sciari whose ox-like -nerves had at last given way under the demoralizing -fire of Servian and German guns. They swam their -horses across rivers whose waters were reddened -with blood from their dripping cimeters; they would -seize cowardly or panicstricken pashas by their -throats, dragging them from the saddle in their -headlong flight; leap from their horses in a time of -rout and plunge their jewelled daggers up to the -hilt in the backs of the flying soldiers; and, mortally -wounded, would conceal the hurt and mount -upon some eminence on the battlefield that their janissaries -might behold the countenance of their lord, -pallid with death, but threatening and imperious to -the last, until, finally sinking exhausted to the earth, -they would roar with rage, maybe, but never with -pain. What must the sensations have been of one -of those gentle Persian or Circassian slaves, hardly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_301">301</a></span> -more than a child, when on the evening of a day of -battle she beheld for the first time, in the door of -her purple tent, under the subdued lamplight, the -terrific apparition of one of those all-powerful sultans, -drunk with victory and blood. But he could -be tender and winning as well, and, gently taking -the trembling little fingers in his mighty hands, -still cramped from wielding the cimeter, search his -imagination for pretty figures of speech to reassure -his frightened slave, comparing her beauty to the -flowers in his gardens, the jewels in his dagger, -the most gorgeous birds in the forests, the most exquisite -tints of a sunrise in Anatolia or Mesopotamia, -until at last, taking courage, she would reply in the -same impassioned and fanciful language: “Crown -of my head! glory of my life! my beloved and -mighty lord! may thy countenance ever shine with -splendor on the two worlds of Africa and Europe! -may victory follow wherever thy horse shall bear -thee! may thy shadow extend over the whole earth! -Would I were a rose to exhale sweetness in the folds -of thy turban! a butterfly beating its wings against -thy forehead!” And then, as her all-powerful lover -reposed his mighty head upon her breast, she would -recount childish tales of emerald palaces and mountains -of gold, while all around the wild and savage -soldiers of the army lay extended fast asleep upon -the dark, bloodstained earth. All weakness, however, -was left within the tent, from which these sultans came<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_302">302</a></span> -forth more hardy and imperious than ever. They -were tender in the harem, ferocious on the battlefield, -humble in the mosque, and haughty on the -throne. Their language was full of glowing hyperboles -and appalling threats; any judgment once pronounced -by them was irrevocable; the war was declared, -the subject elevated to the pinnacle of -greatness, the head of the victim rolled at the foot -of the throne, or a tempest of fire and sword drove -furiously across the face of a rebel province. Thus -sweeping from Persia to the Danube, from Asia to -Macedonia, in a continual succession of wars and -triumphs, with intervals devoted to the pursuit of -love and in hunting, to the flower of their youth -there succeeded a maturity even more vigorous and -ardent, followed by an old age of which their horses’ -flanks, their sword-blades, or the hearts of their -favorites could not have been conscious. And not in -old age alone, but sometimes in the very flower and -vigor of their youth, they would become overpowered -with a sense of their position, dismayed -in the very moment of victory and triumph by the -tremendous responsibility resting upon them, and, -seized with a sort of terror at the magnitude and -loneliness of their own exalted state, would turn to -God with all the force of their natures, passing days -and nights in composing religious poetry in dim recesses -of the palace-gardens, betaking themselves to -the seashore to meditate by the hour upon the Koran,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_303">303</a></span> -joining the frantic dances of the dervishes, or reducing -themselves with fasting and sackcloth in the -company of some devout old hermit. In death as in -life they furnished their people with examples either -of fortitude or of majesty—whether dying with -the serenity of a saint, like the founder of the dynasty; -or laden with years and glory and melancholy, -like Orkhan; or by the hand of a traitor, like Murad -I.; or in the misery of exile, like Bayezid; or -calmly conversing with a circle of poets and scholars, -like the first Muhammad; or from the mortification -of defeat, like the second Murad. And one may -safely assert that there is nothing upon the blood-red -horizon of Ottoman history which can compare with -the threatening phantoms of these formidable rulers.</p> -</div> - -<p class="p2 center smaller">END OF VOLUME I.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 class="p1 nobreak">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant -preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. Several -spurious commas were removed.</p> - -<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced -quotation marks retained.</p> - -<p>Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_241">241</a>: “wings of the loves” probably should be “doves”.</p> -</div></div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Constantinople, Vol. I (of 2), by Edmondo de Amicis - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSTANTINOPLE, VOL. 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