CHARACTERS. 
fole executrix, to whom admi- 
niftration was granted, having 
been firft fworn duly to admi- 
nifier. 
Geo. GosTLINnG, De 
Exd. Natu.GostT ine, ers 
ROG: Onueewuard =e 
July 24th, 1797. 
Fires in Conftantinople, and Conduc of the 
Turks at them. 
From Dallaway’s Travels in the Levaut. 
IRES are fo frequent, that few 
months pafs without them, and 
they are generally fo furious, that 
whole. diftriéts are laid in afhes.* 
Houfes are fo foon re-ere¢ted, that 
the former appearance of the ftreets 
is fpeedily reftored, and little alter- 
ation is ever made in their form. 
Notice of a fire at Conftantinople, 
or at Galata, is given by beating a 
great drum from two high towers 5 
the night-watch then patrole the 
ftreets, ftriking the pavement with 
their ftaves fhod with iron, and 
crying out Yangen var, — “ There 
is a fire,”’ naming the place. The 
Sultan is then fummoned three 
times, and when the conflagration 
has lafted one hour, he is forced 
to attend in perfon, and to bring 
mules with him Jaden with piaftres, 
which he diftributes with his own 
hands to the firemen, who are 
Very inactive before his arrival. 
Thefe are armed againft accidents 
in the fame manner as they are in 
London, and are equally expert and 
zdventurous. Fires are extinguifh- 
ed by pulling down the adjoining 
houfes, for the engines are very 
365 
fmall, and borne on the fhoulders 
oi iwo men. 
The perfe& refignation with 
which a good Mufulman fees his 
houfe confumed by the flames, and 
himfelf reduced from afiluence to 
poverty, has been often and juftly 
remarked by others; he exclaims 
Allah Karim; that is, “ God is mer-_ 
ciful,” without apparent emotion, 
andhas affured himfelf that the fame 
Providence which hath made him 
poor and abject, can once more re- 
{tore him to wealth, ifit be his fate. 
As to the women, they have not the 
praife of fuch philofophy. . They 
affemble in a group near the Sultan, 
and unmercifully load him with the 
bittereft revilings, particularizing 
his own crimes, and the errors of 
his government, and charging him 
with the caufe of their prefent ea- 
lamity. At fuch rencouters no 
crowned head need envy Sultan 
Selim his fituation. -As this is the 
only privileged time of conveying 
the voice of the people to his ears, 
and as women in Turkey fay any 
thing with impunity, it is prefumed 
that many of the fites are not acci- 
dental 
Asagrand {petacle, detaching the 
idea of commiferation of the calami- 
ty from the prefent view, ifa volca- 
nic eruption be excepted, none can | 
exceed agreatfireat Conftantinople.: 
The houfes being conftructed with 
wood, and frequently communicat-" 
ing with magazines filled with com- 
buftible materials, a vaft column of 
flame, of the moft luminous glow, 
rifes from the centre, which light- 
ing up the mofques, and contiguous 
cyprefs-groves, produces an effect 
of {uperior magnificence. In other 
ee 
%* In 1633 feventy thoufand houfes were burnt ; ‘and in 1788 the conflagration 
was fo extenfive, as to threaten the uniyerfal defiruction of the city, 
— 
cilies 
