enter. We found the cistern nearly filled with water, but could discover the tops of numerous columns, which we should gladly have explored more at length, had not part of our company gone on in advance. Since then we have not been able to get access to the house.

The acqueduct of Valens, with others which the Turks themselves have erected, furnish the city with water from the bents or artificial reservoirs in Belgrade and its vicinity. Were the city defended with cannon, and capable of enduring a siege from its fortifications and an adequate supply of provisions, it I would be easy, by interrupting the aqueducts, to compel its surrender. In case of an attack by land, the struggle for its possession, would in consequence, be decided upon the heights without the walls. On these the Sultan is building most of the barracks, for the accommodation of his new soldiers, which are continually assembling at the capital.

The fountains are very numerous, both in the city and by the way side, and are an example worthy of imitation in Christian countries. When connected with establishments of dervishes they are furnished with a great number of metal cups, which are kept constantly filled. These are free to every passer by, whether he be the Mussulman, who reads the lines of the Koran in gilded letters above, and blesses the prophet and founder; or the poor rayah who curses inwardly, . Mahomet and all his followers. In the villages, and by the way side, a single cup is fastened by a chain to the fountain.

The public baths are likewise an object worthy of notice. You will know them by the low dome, with

numerous openings for the vapor to escape. Nor would you ever forget them, should you once undergo the sweating process, as I did at Smyrna. Here I was cautioned not to enter through fear of the plague.

The bazars are much larger, and more exclusively devoted to a single article, than those of Smyrna, The first which I enter on crossing the harbor, contains drugs and dye stuffs; others are lined with silks, robes of fur, shoes of different colors, or arms of every kind. Copper vessels are manufactured to a great extent, and I have sometimes passed a hundred shops in succession where none but Turkish workmen are employed. Indeed the rayahs are prohibited from engaging in most kinds of work in metals. In the bezestein, there is a splendid, rather than valuable, exhibition of jewelry, of which all the different classes of people are extravagantly fond. Here, as in Smyrna, are numerous khans, for the travelling, and which are sometimes occupied by the resident merchant.

The dwelling houses, I should think, are more slightly constructed than those of that city, and more exposed to fire. The streets are better paved and more cleanly.

The castle of the Seven Towers, which I have mentioned as being near one of the angular points, is, like most things else here, in ruins. Foreign ambassadors have not latterly been honored with a constrained residence within its walls.

The mosque of Ejoub, which is without the other angle, is named from a holy disciple of the prophet, who is revered as the patron of Constantinople. No giaours or infidels are permitted to enter, but Ali Bey informs us that the tomb of the disciple, whose remains

were miraculously discovered here, is, in the centre, covered with a rich cloth, and surrounded with a silver balustrade. Water is drawn from a sacred well in silver buckets. It is the place where the Grand Seignior is crowned, or rather girded, for in that the ceremony of his entering upon office, chiefly consists.

You

After the manner of those who have worn the sword from the days when Saul was made king over Israel, the Sultan has taken of the fields, "even the best of them, for himself and for his servants." The seraglio, or the Sultan's private quarters, which includes an hundred and fifty acres, occupies the situation of the ancient Byzantium. It forms a lesser triangle at the vertex or angle of the city which projects into the water. should understand, however, that this is to be distinguished from the harem, or women's quarters, and includes the mint, barracks for some thousand body guards, and other public buildings. You may judge of the number of its inmates, (some say there are ten thousand,) from the provision made for it in the time of Tournefort, which would compare with that furnished. for the household of king Solomon. This was forty thousand cords of wood, and forty thousand beeves, besides two hundred muttons daily, one hundred lambs or goats, ten veals, two hundred hens, two hundred pair of pullets and fifty green geese. The principal gate, or Ottoman Porte,* is on the land side, near the church of St. Sophia. Foreign ambassadors, when admitted to an audience of the Sultan, pass in by this gate,

*A different explanation of the term has been given by Thornton, who supposes that it refers to the Grand Vizier, as the door of communication between the Sultan and the rest of mankind.

through several extensive courts quite to the seat of majesty. If you have the curiosity to enter, you will find Tournefort, Dr. Clark or Hobhouse, ready to conduct

you.

CHAPTER XI.

THE SUBURBS AND VICINITY.

Principal quarters of the Rayahs-Galata-Tophana-Navy yard and prison-Pera-Scutari-The Bosphorus-Buyukdere-Valley of sweet waters-Belgrade-Aspect of the surrounding country-Fanar-Baktchesi-Princes' Islands-Population.

Constantinople, March 12, 1827.

CONTINUING Our survey of the city, let me now direct your attention to some other localites. The new Armenian quarter is about midway of the Marmora side, near the Yeni, or new gate. The former centre of these people, was, I believe, more in the direction of the castle of the Seven Towers. The Fanar, or principal Greek quarter, is on the harbor side, two thirds of the distance from the seraglio point. Ballat-kui the Jewish quarter, is higher up the harbor than the Fanar. In Chas-kui and its vicinity, directly across the harbor, this people are perhaps still more numerous. They also inhabit several villages on the Bosphorus.

A little within the entrance of the harbor, on the north side over against the seraglio, is the suburb of Galata. This is the seat of all the foreign commerce. Close by the shore, lie all the large vessels, often with their bows projecting over the land. The small vessels of the country, discharge their cargoes on the

opposite side, just above the Seraglio. The chain. which defended the harbor against the Turkish gallies, when the city was taken from the Greeks in 1453, was stretched across from Galata, to the Seraglio quarter. Mahomet however, possessed himself of it, by drawing his smaller gallies over land from the Bosphorus, behind the hill on which Galata, Pera and Tophana are situated, to the upper part of the golden horn. The wall by which (alata was then defended, still remains, and also the citadel or tower of Anastasius. You ascend this by about an hundred and fifty steps, to a small room at the top. It now serves for a watch tower, from whence the alarm of fire is given by beating a wooden drum. I have entered repeatedly, paying only a few paras for the prospect and a dish of coffee, which the keeper stands ready to prepare. Since the destruction of the Janissaries' tower on the opposite high ground of Constantinople, this affords the best view of the city.

Adjoining Galata on the north, as you begin to ascend the Bosphorus, is Tophana, or the cannon foundry, as it is commonly called. At present, however, it is only an arsenal for cannon, the modern foundry being opposite the mosque of Ejoub, on the harbor, above Chas-kui. Between Galata and Chas-kui are the navy yard and Ters-hane, or arsenal. Here the Capudan Pasha or admiral, has his palace, and reigns almost supreme. During the absence of the fleet on service, you may always see here half a dozen ships of the line, no longer sea worthy. Ship-building is carried on here extensively, but the vessels are often launched along the Asiatic coast of the Black Sea, and afterwards floated down the Bosphorus, to be