VISIT TO THE CAPOUDAN PACHA. 



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NOTWITHSTANDING all I had heard of the external beauty of Con- 

 stantinople, yet fatigued and nerve- worn as I was after passing five 

 days and nights in an open boat in traversing the Dardanelles and 

 the sea of Marmora, my anticipations were fully realized on ap- 

 proaching that ancient metropolis. It was midnight, and a broad 

 autumnal moon bathed sea and city in a flood of light ; her beams 

 were thrown back from many a mosque and gilded minaret, emerging 

 from the impenetrable gloom of the dark groves of cypress trees 

 which stand like giant watchmen round the Turbehs* of the de- 

 parted saints of Islamism. The plaintive cry of the stork, and the 

 deep voice of the Imam calling the faithful to the last Namaz, were 

 the only sounds that broke upon the stillness of the night. 



As the city f gates are closed an hour or two after sunset, it was 

 impossible to land, and the caikgee moored his little vessel under the 

 walls of the Serai to wait till the morning. I thank my kind for- 

 tune for thus prolonging to me the beautiful vision which the moment 

 I set foot on shore disappeared for ever, giving place to the disgust- 

 ing realities of narrow alleys rendered almost impassable by dogs and 

 dirt. I landed as soon as it was day, and without obstruction of any 

 kind I got my passport vise, and my kit inspected by the proper 

 authorities, a ceremony which I believe is only gone through for the 

 purpose of demanding a fee, for I never heard of any exception being 

 taken to a passport, or of any duty imposed upon luggage. The 

 Turkish officials are at their posts a little after daylight, and in this 

 respect set an example which might be advantageously followed by 

 some functionaries nearer home. 



Having dismissed my boatman, I made a sign to a Hamal J to take 

 my luggage and follow me, and being on the city side, I crossed the 

 Golden Thorn, and landing at Topkhana (the cannon foundery), 

 directed the Hamal to lead the way to Pera. " Upon my head be 

 it," said he ; and notwithstanding the load that actually was upon his 

 head, in addition to the moral responsibility he had taken upon himself, 

 he climbed up one of the steep lanes leading to the European suburb 

 of Pera or, as the Turks call it, the " deurt yol," literally the four 

 ways with a rapidity that put me to considerable pain to keep up 

 with. I was in some trepidation lest he meditated a sudden disap- 

 pearance, which he could have accomplished with the greatest facility. 

 Having however reached the Galata Serai, the palace of the Sultan's 

 pages, where there was a fountain, he very unceremoniously threw 

 down his load, and exclaimed, " This Inghilis Giaour has his sanduki 

 full of gold." 



* Turbeh is a magnificent building appropriated exclusively to the reception 

 of the remains of a sultan or a saint. 



t There is a very strict police in Constantinople ; no person is allowed to 

 walk the streets after sunset without a lantern. 



J Hamal, a porter. 



