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unpaved streets of Gralata through which we passed to arrive at Pera , were covered with every imaginable filth and dirt ; and , worse than all , hundreds of mangy , half-starved , wolf-like curs followed us , veloing . barkinsr , snaDnins , like the embodiment of old women ' s
a / ' i . C 7 ' vJ' JUJL >— ' ' curses on the adventurous Franks . The wretched animals , being considered unclean by the Turks , are masterless , and allowed to cater for themselves , disputing with the vultures the office of public scavengers .
Passing the Turkish Pere la Chaise—a large burymg-ground , crowded with cypresses and tombstones—we entered Pera , which is one of the cleanest and best built of all the suburbs of Constantinople . Here reside most of the wealthy Frank merchants ; but of the mansions , little is seen beyond the high walls which enclose them .
The streets of Constantinople are about the most melancholy thoroughfares imaginable , —they are mere lanes ; the houses are mostly built of wood , and not more than one story high , with , few windows to the street . Then , the silence is nearly unbroken ; the filth to be met with at every step , revolting . Add to these items , cavalcades of pack-horses , mules , asses , and camels ; an occasional rude araba , or country vehicle , for pleasure or traffic ; or , rarer still , some ambassador , or perhaps the sultan himself , in a gilded coach , —and you have some of the materials which compose the tout ensemble of Constantinople .
There are few remains of the old G-reco-Roman rule left in Constantinople . The cattle-market occupies the site of the palace of Constantine ; the Seraglio , a fine building , that of ancient Byzantium . The aqueduct , which adds so much to the stately view from the Bosphorus , still supplies Constantinople with the purest water , as it did in the time of the Romans . This , with a bath , known as the Hundred-marble-pillar Bath , are all of antique remains to be found in the Sultan's City .
The ladies were , of course , in desperate haste to see both the mosques and the bazaars . I accompanied them on a tour of inspection through the latter , the second day of our sojourn at the crescentcrowned city . The bazaar is a promenade for all nations , at every hour of the day—English , French , and Turkish military officers ; Armenians , Persians , Greeks , Arabians , Egyptians , Jews ,- —all in their distinctive costumes , buying , selling , bargaining , cheating !
Then , the profusion of glittering temptations — irom the costly shawls of India ; velvet and silks , from Broussa ; delicate embroideries ; fierce , barbaric-looking arms ; weird eastern jewels and amulets ; charms and perfumes ; down to Parisian bijouterie , G erman toys , and Manchester cottons ! Lady C ¦ spent a small fortune in about an hour . Independent of the intrinsic value of the articles , they were purchased in an Eastern bazaar ! and the vendors themselves were irresistible . There
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
unpaved streets of Gralata through which we passed to arrive at Pera , were covered with every imaginable filth and dirt ; and , worse than all , hundreds of mangy , half-starved , wolf-like curs followed us , veloing . barkinsr , snaDnins , like the embodiment of old women ' s
a / ' i . C 7 ' vJ' JUJL >— ' ' curses on the adventurous Franks . The wretched animals , being considered unclean by the Turks , are masterless , and allowed to cater for themselves , disputing with the vultures the office of public scavengers .
Passing the Turkish Pere la Chaise—a large burymg-ground , crowded with cypresses and tombstones—we entered Pera , which is one of the cleanest and best built of all the suburbs of Constantinople . Here reside most of the wealthy Frank merchants ; but of the mansions , little is seen beyond the high walls which enclose them .
The streets of Constantinople are about the most melancholy thoroughfares imaginable , —they are mere lanes ; the houses are mostly built of wood , and not more than one story high , with , few windows to the street . Then , the silence is nearly unbroken ; the filth to be met with at every step , revolting . Add to these items , cavalcades of pack-horses , mules , asses , and camels ; an occasional rude araba , or country vehicle , for pleasure or traffic ; or , rarer still , some ambassador , or perhaps the sultan himself , in a gilded coach , —and you have some of the materials which compose the tout ensemble of Constantinople .
There are few remains of the old G-reco-Roman rule left in Constantinople . The cattle-market occupies the site of the palace of Constantine ; the Seraglio , a fine building , that of ancient Byzantium . The aqueduct , which adds so much to the stately view from the Bosphorus , still supplies Constantinople with the purest water , as it did in the time of the Romans . This , with a bath , known as the Hundred-marble-pillar Bath , are all of antique remains to be found in the Sultan's City .
The ladies were , of course , in desperate haste to see both the mosques and the bazaars . I accompanied them on a tour of inspection through the latter , the second day of our sojourn at the crescentcrowned city . The bazaar is a promenade for all nations , at every hour of the day—English , French , and Turkish military officers ; Armenians , Persians , Greeks , Arabians , Egyptians , Jews ,- —all in their distinctive costumes , buying , selling , bargaining , cheating !
Then , the profusion of glittering temptations — irom the costly shawls of India ; velvet and silks , from Broussa ; delicate embroideries ; fierce , barbaric-looking arms ; weird eastern jewels and amulets ; charms and perfumes ; down to Parisian bijouterie , G erman toys , and Manchester cottons ! Lady C ¦ spent a small fortune in about an hour . Independent of the intrinsic value of the articles , they were purchased in an Eastern bazaar ! and the vendors themselves were irresistible . There